Dingodile Meets the Spirit Squad
by SSBFreak
Summary: Parody of Scooby Doo Meets the Boo Brothers. Dingodile has inherited a mansion in the woods and finds himself and his two friends on a quest to find a hidden family treasure.
1. The Drive

Author's note: Okay. This fanfic is something I recently thought of. I really loved 'Scooby Doo Meets the Boo Brothers' as a kid and watched it all the time, so I figured that I'd do a spoof of that movie starring different characters. At the end of each chapter, I'll inform you guys on who's playing who when they first make their respective appearance in the story.

Also keep in mind that because I don't know the movie off by heart (but I know most of it), so some of the phrases will be edited a bit.

Well, here it goes!

**Chapter One: The Drive**

**(Country Road)**

The sun was shining brightly down on a country road as a lone jeep drove along it. The look of this country road made it seem like it would be hard to navigate, but luckily, the three people inside the jeep knew exactly where they were going.

"Oy! Tiny, yer holding the map upside-down, mate!"

…Okay, never mind…

The driver of the jeep looked like a cross between a dingo and a crocodile, and was having a hard time trying to keep his eyes on the road and the map his friend in the passenger seat was holding. Said person in the passenger seat was a gigantic, orange tiger, whom was looking at a roadmap with a confused expression. The third person in the back seat of the jeep was a female bandicoot with blonde hair done into a ponytail.

"Hey, Tiny?" The hybrid asked. "How far is it to the Koopa Road turnoff?"

"In minute, Dingodile." The tiger, Tiny, replied, trying to look over the map.

"Isn't this great, Dingodile?" The bandicoot asked, leaning forward to look at Dingodile.

"You've inherited your very own mansion!"

"Yeah, Ah know, Coco." Dingodile nodded. "It IS kinda neat."

"It's too bad about your uncle, though." Coco added, sighing. "The way you described him, he sounded like an okay guy."

"Eh, Ah never really saw him all that much." Dingodile admitted. "But yeah, those times he visited were good."

"Well, I wonder why he left the mansion to you." Coco scratched her head. "I mean, didn't he have any closer relatives?"

"In all honesty, Ah don't know." Dingodile shrugged. "But Ah'm not complaining. We'll see if the mansion's in good shape." He looked at Tiny, whom was still fumbling with the map. "If we could just get there. Oy, Tiny! Quit playing around and find the road, will ya?"

"Tiny looking! Tiny looking!" Tiny insisted as he kept searching. "Stupid map…"

"Uh…Here, let me help you, Tiny." Coco offered as she leaned over and helped Tiny search.

Dingodile looked ahead and saw that they were starting to run out of road. He knew that the turnoff was on this road, but he didn't know where. "Come on! Come on! Where's Koopa Road?" He asked.

"Okay, okay!" Tiny said before finally seeing something. "Hmm…Here we go…" Tiny leaned out the window and pointed off down a road. "There road, Dingodile!"

"Okay! Hold on tight, people!" Dingodile said. "Cause here we go!"

Dingodile turned down the road and continued driving. However, within a few minutes, the three found that the road and weather had changed from smooth and sunny to rough and dark. The road wasn't paved, and was proving to be a bumpy ride. And if that weren't enough, the trees along each side of the road were covering up everything, making it dark out. And the trees weren't lush and full, either. They were scraggly and bent, yet still kept all of their leaves.

"Uh…Are ya SURE that this is the right road, Tiny?" Dingodile asked, looking around at the creepy scenery.

"Yeah…Tiny think so…" Tiny mused as he continued to read the map.

"Let me see that." Dingodile said, leaning over and looking at the map.

Unfortunately, this meant that Dingodile had to take his eyes off the road, and he was still driving. Dingodile rammed into a sign post, knocking it over and shaking everyone in the jeep. Dingodile took his foot off the gas and the jeep came to a stop.

"Oy…Ah think we're lost…" Dingodile mused, his head stuck in between the steering wheel bars. "Hey, Coco? Can ya give me a hand?"

"Coming." Coco said as she climbed into the front seat and pushed Dingodile's head through the steeling wheel, freeing him.

"Thanks a lot." Dingodile sighed in relief. "Okay. Now let's take a look at that map, Tiny." Getting no response, Dingodile looked to his right and saw that Tiny was no longer in the jeep. "Tiny?"

"Tiny?" Coco asked. "Where are you?"

Suddenly, the hood on the jeep opened and Tiny stuck his head out. He flashed a toothy grin.

"How'd ya get under there?" Dingodile asked, surprised at how Tiny could get under the hood in such a short amount of time.

"Search Tiny." Tiny shrugged.

"Well, where's the roadmap?"

Tiny held up the roadmap, or rather a blackened corner of it. "Right here!" He said as the corner crumbled in his hand.

"Oh, grand." Dingodile sighed as Tiny got out of the hood and walked over to the door of the jeep. "Now we're really lost, mates. What could be worse?"

"It could be raining." Tiny suggested helpfully.

As if on cue, lightning and thunder struck, causing an instant downpour of rain. Tiny instantly leapt into the jeep and wrapped himself around Dingodile, shivering.

"This could take a while." Coco muttered.

**(Later…)**

After Tiny was finally settled down, the jeep was back on the road, this time in the pouring rain. Dingodile unfortunately had no way of knowing where to go, but he figured that they were on the right road anyway, so he kept pressing on.

Unfortunately, Dingodile drove through a patch of mud and slowed down to avoid slipping. This cause the back tires to stick in the mud and prevent the jeep from going any further.

"Ah, great. It's just one thing after another." Dingodile sighed. "Well, it looks like someone's gonna have ta get out and push."

Tiny sat in silence for a few seconds before leaping into the backseat and cowering underneath a blanket. Coco sighed. "I'll take Tiny out there and we'll both do it."

"Ya sure?" Dingodile asked. "Tiny and Ah can do it."

"I'm not qualified to drive, Dingodile." Coco replied with a chuckle. "It's okay. We'll get this done quickly." With that, Coco looked into the backseat. "Come on, Tiny. Let's go."

Tiny felt a little better knowing that someone was going out with him and nodded. "Okay." He said.

Tiny and Coco stepped out of the jeep and walked to the back of it to attempt to push it out of the mud.

"Okay, we're ready, Dingodile!" Coco called out.

"Got it! When Ah say 'heave', start pushing!" Dingodile said.

Coco pressed herself against the back of the jeep and prepared to push. Tiny was about to follow suite when he saw two huge arms reach into view and grab the back of the jeep as well. Tiny curiously looked up.

A huge, brown ape with a red tie was staring down at him. As if to add some more horror, lightning and thunder struck.

Seeing the monster, Tiny recoiled in fear.

"3…2…1…Heave!"

Tiny quickly pushed at the jeep, shoving it clear out of the mud. Coco, unprepared for this, fell face first into the mud.

Coco slowly got up, unknowing of the huge ape behind her. "Hey, guys! Wait up!"

Tiny pushed the jeep well out of the mud and Dingodile quickly applied the brakes, making Tiny stop, even though he was still trying to push it further.

"Oy! That's enough, Tiny!" Dingodile laughed. "Cool it!"

"Man, Tiny! Your strength never ceases to amaze me." Coco chuckled as she ran over.

"Get in jeep, Coco!" Tiny said as he picked Coco up, rushed over to the side door of the jeep and threw her in. Tiny then jumped into Dingodile's lap and started driving off.

"What the?" Dingodile asked as he tried to see around Tiny. "Tiny, Ah can't see!"

As the jeep drove off, the brown ape scratched its head before jogging off after it.

Meanwhile, Tiny continued to drive the jeep down the dirt road, despite the protests coming from the person he was currently sitting on.

"Tiny, get off me." Dingodile moaned.

"Monster following us! Monster following us!" A terrified Tiny shouted repeatedly.

Several feet back, a police car suddenly pulled into view, sirens blazing. The police caught up to the jeep as the driver, a little man with a long, red mustache, grabbed the microphone.

"Okay, varmint!" The officer said. "Just pull that thing over to the side of the road there, kitty!…KITTY?"

In complete shock, the officer lost control of his car, driving it straight into a nearby sign. The officer pulled his car out and backed up towards the jeep, which had stopped. Tiny, seeing the police car, got off Dingodile's lap and back into the passenger seat. The officer got a good look and saw the huge cat sitting in the passenger seat.

"I gotta get off the night shift." The officer said, rubbing his eyes. After he was finished, he got out of the car and walked over. By now, it had stopped raining.

"Uh…Hey, officer. What seems to be the trouble?" Dingodile asked.

"Trouble? Oh, no trouble." The officer said. "I was just in the area and was making sure that you weren't driving in an irresponsible manner…Let me see yer license, boy!"

"Uh…Yes, sir." Dingodile nodded, handing the officer his driver's license.

"Nice going, Tiny." Coco said. "You might have gotten Dingodile in a heap of trouble."

Tiny's ears drooped. "Tiny sorry."

The officer looked at the card for a second. "Oh! From out of state, huh? Well, what are ya doing down here, ya varmint!" He asked.

"We're lookin' fer the Koopa Mansion and we sorta got lost." Dingodile replied. "Could ya please give us some directions?"

"Hmm…There ain't nobody living at Koopa Manor now that the Colonel's passed on." The officer replied. "Whaddya need ta go there for?"

"Well, the Colonel was mah uncle." Dingodile said. "And he left me the place."

The officer laughed in disbelief. "Left YOU the place?" He asked.

"Could you please tell us if we're close, sir?" Dingodile asked.

"Yeah, just down the road a piece." The officer informed. "But let me give you this piece of advice, boy. You'd best get back to where you come from. There ain't nothing there that's worth your while. In fact, the people say that there place is haunted."

"H-Haunted?" Tiny asked before passing out.

Coco, on the other hand, seemed more interested. "Did you say 'haunted'?" She asked excitedly. "Oh, boy!"

"Calling Sheriff Sam." The radio in the police car said. "Calling Sheriff Sam."

The officer walked over to the car and picked up the radio. "Sheriff Sam here." He said. "Go ahead."

"We need you down here right away!" The voice on the other end replied. "A train bound for Kongo Jungle got de-railed earlier today and now there's a huge ape running around all over creation!"

"An ape? Why that smackin', rackin', frackin'…" Sam said as he got into the car. "I'll be right over!"

Before driving off, Sam looked at the jeep one more time. "I'll let you off with a warning, boy. Consider yourself lucky." He said. "In fact, you'd be even luckier to stay away from Koopa Manor altogether. They say that place is full of ghosts…"

The three friends in the jeep did a simultaneous gulp as Sheriff Sam drove away, sirens blazing again.

_To be continued…_

Characters' Parts:

Tiny Tiger (Crash Bandicoot) is playing Scooby Doo's role

Dingodile (Crash Bandicoot) is playing Shaggy's role

Coco Bandicoot (Crash Bandicoot) is playing Scrappy Doo's role

Donkey Kong (grown larger than Tiny, of course) is playing the ape's role

Yosemite Sam (Looney Toons) is playing Sheriff Buzby's role

Keep in mind that these characters will simply be filling the roles of the characters from the movie. And I'll probably add a few new scenes (as well as throw in some DingodilexCoco at the same time) that weren't in the movie to begin with.


	2. The Arrival

**Chapter two: The Arrival**

**(Dark Road)**

Deciding to ignore the sheriff's warning and proceed to the mansion, Dingodile continued driving down the dirt road. The three in the jeep looked around several times, trying to see if they could find the mansion, but so far, they had come up with nothing.

"Are you sure we should have trusted his directions?" Dingodile asked.

"Well, he IS the sherrif." Coco shrugged. "I imagine he would knows these parts better than most people."

Tiny, in the meantime, kept looking around, and even took a couple looks backwards. In all honesty, he was checking to see if the monster ape from earlier was following them. Thankfully, he didn't see a thing.

"You seem awfully jumpy, Tiny." Coco noticed. "You alright?"

"Yeah! Tiny good!" Tiny said, perhaps a little too quickly.

Coco raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound or look like it." She replied. "You look as if you've seen a monster."

Tiny looked at Coco uneasily, but the female bandicoot decided to drop it and continue searching for the mansion. The huge feline sighed in relief as he went back to keeping an eye open for his predator.

"Ah, would ya look at that…" Dingodile said. Coco and Tiny looked ahead and saw that they were approaching a wall of shrubbery. "A dead end."

Dingodile stopped his jeep and sat in silence for a few seconds. "Well, Ah guess that settles it." He said. "We're headin' back home."

"No, Dingodile! Look!" Coco said, pointing at the blockage.

Dingodile looked again and saw that the wall was opening. On further inspection, it turned out to be the front gates of the Koopa Manor property, covered in leaves. Looking past the gate, Dingodile saw that there was a cemetery on the other side.

"The road leads on!" Coco said brightly.

"Yeah, but look…" Dingodile chuckled nervously, not really liking where this was going anymore. "Right through a graveyard."

"Come on, Dingodile. We've come this far." Coco said. "Let's go check out that mansion of yours and see what it looks like."

Dingodile swallowed, but reluctantly put his jeep into drive again and pressed on, driving through the cemetery. Tiny looked at all of the lonely graves scattered around and shivered. This seemed natural, because despite his size, Tiny was the most cowardly of the three.

Coco, on the other hand, was exactly the opposite. "Gee, I wonder if we'll see real ghosts like the sheriff said." She said, looking like she was getting excited again.

Tiny whimpered and sat back.

"D-Don't talk like that, Coco." Dingodile said. "There's n-no such things as g-ghosts."

Coco suddenly heard what sounded like a horse running and looked out the window. "Too bad. Then I guess this headless horse-monkey out here is just a phony, right?" She asked.

Dingodile's eyes snapped open, as did Tiny's. Both friends looked out the window and saw a figure riding a white horse with glowing, yellow eyes. But what scared them the most was the fact that he was holding his own head, that of a silver-haired monkey, under his right arm. The headless rider laughed evilly as he chased the jeep down.

Dingodile and Tiny screamed and look at each other. "A GHOST!"

With that, Dingodile sped up the jeep in an attempt to get away from the headless horse-monkey and turned a turn. Looking back, Dingodile sighe din relief when he saw that the headless horse-monkey was no longer chasing them.

"Dingodile! Wolf!" Tiny shouted.

Dingodile snapped to attention and looked ahead, seeing a black wolf running at them. The Australian hybrid quickly turned again, driving away from the wolf.

Before the wolf could give chase, a shadowy figure appeared. "Link, that wasn't an enemy!" The shadow scolded. "I sent us to the wrong spot. Just let me try again and we'll get back to Zora's Domain."

The wolf suddenly turned into particles of black shadow and zoomed off, clear out of the area.

"Is it following us?" Coco asked.

Tiny looked back. "No. Wolf gone."

Dingodile suddenly slammed on the brakes again. When the jeep came to a full stop, the three looked ahead and saw an old-looking koopa with a blue civil war uniform and pale, white eyes.

"Leave this place!" The koopa ghost ordered, raising his arms into the air. "Leave this place!"

Dingodile, thinking quickly, started his jeep again and drove off, leaving the old ghost in the dust.

"We gotta find a way out of this place!" Dingodile said frantically.

"Look! Up ahead!" Coco pointed out.

Dingodile looked ahead and saw a large, old-looking mansion. Seeing the sign over the door that read 'Koopa Manor' told Dingodile that this was the mansion he had inherited.

"We found it!" Coco rejoiced. "There's your mansion, Dingodile!"

"Ah don't care, Coco!" Dingodile replied. "Ah don't want it anymore!"

Dingodile tried turning the jeep around to work his way back to the front gates, but the jeep stopped part-way through. Dingodile immediately started turning the key to start the jeep again, but nothing was happening.

"Ah, no!" Dingodile cried. "What a time for the engine ta stall!"

The three friends looked into the distance and saw the headless horse-monkey riding up again, laughing evilly.

"YIPES!" Tiny screamed.

"Into the mansion!" Dingodile cried. "Maybe the ghost won't follow us!"

Dingodile, Coco and Tiny got out of the jeep and instantly made a mad dash for the front door of the mansion. Once they got inside the front door, the friends tried stopping, but found themselves stepping on a rug. The trio slid forward on the rug the entire way down the main room of the mansion until they found themselves getting dumped into the fireplace.

Coughing and covered in soot, Dingodile, Coco and Tiny stepped out of the fireplace. However, they suddenly felt the soot getting blown off them, cleaning all three of them off.

"Oy. Who did that?" Dingodile asked as he looked ahead.

There stood an old-looking man with a white coat and black glasses. He was slouching over and had a hunch in his back. In his hand was an old-fashioned windbag, which he had used to clean the three off. He then let out a strange-sounding cackle.

**"DOUBLE YIPES!"** Tiny cried.

"I hope that you and your friends will be…Comfortable here, Master Dingodile." The man said.

Tiny jumped back in fear, but slipped on the stone base of the fireplace and found himself back inside the pit of soot.

"How'd ya know my name, mate?" Dingodile asked.

"Why, I've been expecting you, of course." The man insisted.

"And whom might YOU be?" Coco asked suspiciously.

"I'm Albert Wily, butler and servant of the Colonel for some fifty-odd years, and rightful owner of this place." The butler said. Dingodile looked behind him and saw an old picture of his uncle, Bowser Koopa, whom was holding a sword. "Unfortunately, the old fool decided to leave it all to YOU! INCLUDING the family jewels! And so I…Am at your service."

"Family jewels?" Tiny, having gotten himself out of the fireplace, asked.

"Yeah. What family jewels?" Dingodile asked.

"Ha! 'What family jewels?' he says!" Wily laughed. "Only a king's ransom in gold and jewels hidden somewhere on these grounds! Why…Don't tell me you've never heard of 'The Koopa Bonanza'!" With that, he took his glasses off, revealing a pair of eyes that rolled in different directions as he laughed.

Coco leaned closer to her friends. "I don't know whom looks nuttier." She muttered. "Wily or that picture of the old Colonel."

"Yeah." Tiny agreed.

"Speaking of Uncle Bowser, he looks just like the…" Dingodile said, starting to shiver as he tried to get the last word out.

"Like…The ghost?" Wily taunted, finishing Dingodile's sentence.

"Yeah!" All three friends said as one.

Wily chuckled. "Why, don't worry. He won't hurt you." He assured. "Ghosts can't hurt anyone."

Suddenly, a sword shot from out of nowhere and stuck itself in the wall just beside Dingodile's head. All three friends screamed in fright.

Wily, on the other hand, turned and calmly addressed his audience. "Now, Colonel. Where are your manners, sir?" The old butler asked. "Is that any way to treat you guests, let alone you dear nephew?" The three saw that Wily was talking to Bowser's picture, which was now missing the sword. "Even though they don't belong here and want to take away MY treasure?" He finished his little speech with another strange-sounding cackle.

As Tiny and Dingodile started backing off, Coco stood defiant. "YOUR treasure?" She asked, offended. "Listen, goggle-eyes! If there's any jewels hanging around here, they all belong to Dingodile, okay?"

"Uh…Ah appreciate you stickin' up fer me, Coco, but I don't think we should get into all this." Dingodile said.

"Huh? But, Dingodile!" Coco said.

"We…Uh…Need ta get going." Dingodile said, taking Coco's hand and leading her towards the door, which Tiny was already going towards.

"But, Dingodile! It IS your treasure." Coco reasoned. "You inherited it."

As Dingodile and Coco talked, Tiny prepared to open the door. However, when he did, he looked out and his eyes snapped open. For there, standing just outside the front door, was the same brown ape from earlier. He waved down at Tiny cheerily. Tiny hastily shut the door and pressed himself against it, his eyes wide and his pupils small.

"Well, the battery of mah jeep is probably okay by now, so…" Dingodile said as he approached the door and saw Tiny blocking his way out. "Well, come on, Tiny. Let us outta here."

"Uh-uh! Uh-uh!" Tiny said, shaking his head.

"Tiny, quit playin' around." Dingodile said. "Let's get back in the jeep and back home."

"No, Dingodile!" Tiny said, stepping away from the door. "There monster out there!"

"Monster?" Dingodile asked.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, scaring all three of the friends. In a frantic rush, Dingodile, Coco and Tiny flew headfirst into another room and shut the door. Wily, on the other hand, approached the door and opened it, finding himself staring at a short man with a red mustache.

"Ah, Sheriff Sam." Wily greeted. "Please. Do come in."

"Just wanted ta ask ya ta keep a good eyeball out for an escaped ape named Donkey Kong." Sheriff Sam replied. "He was last seen headed this-a-way."

Inside the other room, Dingodile had his ear pressed against the door. He sighed in relief.

"Who there, Dingodile?" Tiny asked. "The monster?"

"Nah, it's just the sheriff." Dingodile replied. "Come on, Tiny. There's no monsters."

"No! There a big gorilla!" Tiny insisted.

Coco laughed. "You're such a wimp, Tiny." She said.

"But Tiny a LIVE wimp." Tiny replied with a grin.

Dingodile and Coco left the room to greet the sheriff, but Tiny stayed behind and shut the door again. The huge tiger pressed his ear against the door to listen in. Suddenly, Donkey Kong appeared behind Tiny and listened in as well, although the huge feline didn't notice.

"Heya, sheriff!" Dingodile greeted.

"Oh! Hey there, boy!" Sam greeted back. "I can see that ya didn't take my advice on leaving."

"Well…Uh…" Dingodile said.

"That's right, sheriff!" Coco said brightly. "We're staying! We're gonna find the Koopa Jewels!"

"Now whatcha wanna do that for, missy?" Sam asked. "All those stories about a hidden treasure are just hogwash!" He then turned towards Wily again. "So if you see this ape, be sure to let me know, okay?"

"Alright, sheriff. But I'm afraid it'll do no good." Wily said with a smirk.

"What do you mean it won't do no good?" Sam demanded. "We gotta catch this here ape!"

"But you can't capture it, sheriff." Wily replied with a shrug. "You see…It's a ghost."

"A ghost?" Dingodile, Coco and Sam asked.

"A ghost?" Donkey Kong asked back in the other room, looking just as surprised.

Tiny turned to Donkey Kong and smiled. "That right. A ghost." He said. However, once he did, his eyes opened in realization. Two seconds later, Tiny leapt into the air, screamed and flew out of the room.

Everyone looked and saw Tiny leap at Dingodile, and tackle him. Dingodile stepped back in surprise, but managed to regain his footing. Dingodile place his hands on his hips and looked up, where Tiny had himself wrapped around Dingodile's head in fear (and making it look like Dingodile was wearing a huge, furry hat).

"Tiny, what's wrong with you?" Dingodile asked.

"There monster in there!" Tiny shouted back, pointing off into the room he had come from.

Dingodile showed surprising strength, lifted Tiny off his head and dropped him to the floor. "Don't be ridiculous, Tiny. What kinda monster?" He asked.

Tiny, too scared to talk, reached his arms into the air and started scratching his side, making monkey noises.

"Looks like he imitating the escaped ape!" Sam pointed out.

"You mean…The GHOST ape." Wily corrected, purposefully trying to scare the sheriff.

"Hmph…We'll see what kinda ghost he is." Sam said as he approached the door and held his gun ready. "Okay, you big bundle of fur! Get out before I come in after ya!" Not getting a response, Sam continued. "Okay! Ya leave me no choice! Here I come!"

With that, Sam kicked in the door and walked into the dark room to take down the ape.

_To be continued…_

Blue Monkey (Ape Escape) is playing the headless horseman's role

Link (in his wolf form) played the wolf's role (and won't appear again)

Bowser (Mario) is playing Colonel Beauregard's role

Dr. Wily (Megaman) is playing Farquard's role


	3. The Calvary

**Chapter three: The Calvary**

**(Mansion)**

Sheriff Sam walked into the dark room and vanished from sight. Everyone else poked their respective heads into the doorway, Dingodile turning the light switch on the wall on. However, once the lights were on, everyone saw the sheriff aiming his pistol at a gigantic, stuffed ape sitting in the middle of the room.

The sheriff also seemed to be the only one whom didn't notice this. "Alright, ya flea-bitten galoot! Put up your hands!" Sam ordered. "I'm a-gonna take you in!" Seeing that the ape wasn't putting up his arms, Sam continued. "I'm warning you, varmint! Put up yours hands!"

Everyone else walked into the room, Wily chuckling. "I'm afraid he can't raise his hands, sheriff." The odd butler said. "He's stuffed."

"I don't care how much he eats!" Sam snapped. "He ain't gonna defy an officer of the law!"

"He's about two corndogs short of a picnic basket." Coco muttered.

"Yeah." Tiny nodded.

"You don't understand, sherrif." Wily said with a smirk. "That ape was shot many years ago. He's no longer among the living."

"Huh? Oh…" Sam said, finally catching on. He placed his gun back into its holster. "Well, why didn't ya say so, baldy?"

Wily either chose to ignore the bald joke or didn't catch it. "Ever since the Colonel bagged him and brought him here, his spirit has been haunting these grounds."

Sam snorted. "Hah! You can't pull that old mumbo-jumbo on me!" He said as he walked towards the door to the room. "There ain't no such thing as an ape ghost."

As everyone else left the room, Tiny approached the stuffed ape.

"But…Tiny thought ape talk to him." Tiny mused, poking at the stuffed ape. "Is Tiny just seeing things?

Suddenly, a large, brown hand patted Tiny on the head. The huge feline's eye widened as he looked up and saw Donkey Kong hiding behind the stuffed ape, smiling and waving cheerily. Tiny turned white.

"Nope." Tiny whimpered.

As everyone walked towards the front door to see the sheriff off, no one was expecting Tiny to fly from the room in terror again.

"SHERIFF!" Tiny screamed, grabbing Sam's arm and trying to pull him back into the room again.

"What the?" Sam asked, pulled against Tiny's hold. "Let go of me, ya furry varmint!"

"Tiny, what's yer problem?" Dingodile asked, pulling Tiny away from Sam.

"Ape, Dingodile! In there!" Tiny insisted, pointing off into the room. "It alive!"

"Now stop that!" Dingodile scolded. "That ape's just a dummy!"

"He ain't the only one!" Sam snapped at Dingodile. "Now you listen to me, boy. This place is just too darn dangerous for you ta hang out at. You'd best get right back to where you came from."

"Uh…Don't worry, sheriff." Dingodile chuckled nervously. "We're going."

Wily laughed, jumping into the air in excitement. "Oh, goody! That means that the family jewels will all be mine!" He said.

However, Wily didn't notice it, but as he was jumping in the air, something fell from his pocket and rolled at Coco's feet. The female bandicoot picked it up, examined it and brightened up. She quickly put the object into her pocket.

"There ain't no family jewels." Sam told Dingodile with a smirk. "His little ol' mind wanders a lot. He just goes along for the ride."

With that, Sam walked out the front door and shut it behind him. As Wily walked into the next room, Coco made sure that he was out of earshot.

"Guys, look at what I found." Coco whispered, pulling out what Wily had dropped and handing it to Dingodile.

Dingodile looked at what he was holding and saw that he was holding a golden ring. "Oy! Where'd ya find this, Coco?" He asked quietly.

"It fell out of Wily's pocket." Coco replied.

"Well, ya'd better give it back to him." Dingodile added.

"Wait! Look at it, Dingodile! It's got a big K on the front, for 'Koopa'!" Coco insisted. "And just look at the inscription on the inside of it."

"Oy!" Dingodile said as he read what was inside. "It reads 'Fer mah nephew, Bowser'!"

"Oh! Pretty ring!" Tiny whispered.

"Don't you see? Maybe there IS a king's ransom in jewels here!" Coco said. "And they all belong to you, Dingodile!"

"She have point, Dingodile." Tiny added.

Dingodile sighed and put the ring on a mantle. "Ah don't care, Coco. Ah'm not stayin' here more than five more minutes. Our safety is more important ta me than some treasure."

Looking at where Wily had gone, the Australian saw that the old butler had returned. "Uh…It was nice meeting ya, Wily." Dingodile said, walking towards the door. "But Ah think we'd better head back home."

"So sorry you can't stay." Wily laughed.

Once Dingodile stepped outside, his eyes widened when he saw his jeep starting to sink in the mud. "Ah, no! Mah jeep is sinking!" He said.

Without thinking, Dingodile rushed out to his jeep and attempted to pull it from the mud, but only found himself starting to sink with it. "Now AH'M sinking!"

Standing just outside the door, Tiny and Coco saw their friend in peril. "Quick, Tiny! Come on!" Coco said.

"We coming, Dingodile!" Tiny shouted.

The tiger and bandicoot raced towards a tree sitting beside the mud and climbed it. Tiny grabbed onto Coco, wrapped his legs around a branch and hung over it, holding Coco out so Dingodile could take her hands.

"Help me!" Dingodile shouted, waving his arms in the air.

"Grab onto my arms, Dingodile!" Coco called back, holding out her hands. "Tiny and I will try to pull you out!" Dingodile promptly grabbed hold of Coco's hands, but it wasn't pulling him out of the mud. In fact, the branch Tiny was wrapped around was starting to pull itself down, dropping the three closer to the mud.

Wily, watching the scene from the porch, didn't make a move to help. "Oh, goody. They're all going to sink." He said.

Suddenly, Coco managed to pull Dingodile from the mud, but the branch was pulled downwards so much that it cause a slingshot effect, launching all three friends into the air and sending them flying towards the porch.

Wily stepped back, afraid that they'd land on him. He was lucky, because the three landed at the edge of the porch. He was unlucky because this caused the boards to spring from their bases, including the one Wily was standing on. The old butler was sent flying into the awning above the porch.

"Oh, dear." Wily sighed. "Most depressing."

**(Later…)**

Needless to say, Dingodile's jeep was too far into the mud to pull out without help. Wily had called a tow truck, but it wouldn't be able to show up until morning. That meant that Dingodile, Tiny and Coco were forced to spend the night in the mansion, and Coco seemed to be the only one of the three that was excited. Currently, the three friends were in the guest room and Wily was at the door.

"Since we unfortunately can't get your jeep out of the mud until morning, you'll have to spend the night." Wily said, placing a candle on the small table beside the bed. "Pleasant dreams." He then left the room, letting out another unusual-sounding laugh.

Coco sat back on the bed and yawned. Despite it being only nine, she was getting tired. "Well, goodnight, guys." She said as she blew at the candle and attempted to blow it out. However, the flame was still lit. "Hmm. That's strange." Coco mused as she blew on the candle a few more times.

The candle was still lit, however. Coco tried one more time, blowing straight down onto the candle, hoping that the flame would go out that way. The candle defied Coco once again and remained lit. "Hmm. That creepy Wily is probably trying to scare us with one of those trick candles."

Dingodile chuckled nervously. "Ah, it's okay, Coco. Leave it on!" He insisted. "Ya can't see any ghosts when the lights are on!"

"You mean that you're starting to believe Wily's stories, Dingodile?" Coco asked with a smirk.

"Well, ya can't take any chances, Coco." Dingodile replied.

"Yeah. Tiny watch cartoons a lot." Tiny pointed out. "Ghosts don't appear when lights on."

Coco giggled. "You guys sure are strange." She noted.

Dingodile was about to add when he suddenly shivered. "Uh…Ya guys feel a draft?" He asked.

"Yeah. It DOES seem a little colder." Coco noted, hugging herself and looking around.

"Where could cold air be coming from?" Tiny asked. "Window's are shut."

The three friends looked at the corner of the room. Something suddenly came through the wall, riding an old-fashioned bike. It didn't take long for anyone to recognize the figure as Colonel Bowser's ghost.

"Leave this place!" Bowser ordered, biking across the room. "Leave this place!"

As quick as he came, Bowser vanished again, riding through the opposite wall. However, the damage was still done, because Dingodile and Tiny freaked out and attempted to make a break for the door. This failed when they tripped over each other, landing on the floor of the bedroom.

"Guys, what are you doing?" Coco asked. "We can't leave until morning!"

"But with all of these…" Dingodile said, attempting to force the last word out of his mouth.

"Ghosts?" Tiny asked.

"Yeah, those!" Dingodile said as he got to his feet. "What're we gonna do?"

"I've got an idea." Coco said, reaching for a book on the table.

"Coco seems calm." Tiny noted. "Why is Coco not scared?"

"Because I think I know what we need to do." Coco replied as she flipped through the pages of the book. "Let's see…Ant Exterminators…Bug Exterminators…Ah! Here we go!" She said. "GHOST Exterminators!"

"Ghost Exterminators?" Dingodile asked, looking at the book with Coco. The page she was looking at was an ad for an unusual group called 'The Spirit Squad'.

"Yeah, look at this!" Coco said. "These guys are a new group and they say that they're the best ghost exterminators in the area! The Spirit Squad!"

"Ah dunno about this, Coco." Dingodile said.

"What've we got to lose?" Coco shrugged. "Let's call them."

Dingodile shrugged. "Ah have a bad feeling, but okay." The hybrid looked at the number on the ad, grabbed a nearby phone and dialed it.

Waiting a couple seconds, Dingodile spoke into the phone. "Hello? Is this the Spirit Squad?" He asked. "Well, we've got a job for ya at Koopa Manor. Come on over!"

Suddenly, a blonde head emerged from the receiver, scaring Dingodile. "Why, certainly! Always a pleasure to be of service!" He said.

As Dingodile jumped away from the phone, the blonde head pulled itself from the phone, revealing the body of a muscled ghost with a spout instead of legs. After the muscled ghost was out of the phone, a skinny arm emerged as well, awaiting help.

The muscled ghost pulled on the arm, yanking a tall, skinny and lanky ghost from the phone.

"Merci, monsieur!" The skinny ghost said.

"What's this 'merci monsieur' stuff?" The muscled ghost demanded.

"This is a French telephone!" The skinny ghost laughed. "Amusing, huh?"

"Yeah. Real funny." The muscled ghost muttered.

In the meantime, Dingodile, Tiny and Coco watched the scene in shock, although Coco was looking more excited than scared.

"Wow! Real ghosts!" Coco said in excitement. "This is amazing!"

"Ghosts, Dingodile." Tiny whimpered, hiding behind his friend.

"Ah KNEW there was something going on." Dingodile said.

The muscled ghost was looking into the phone, as if awaiting something else. "Hey, Shivers! What's keeping ya?" He asked.

"I'm…I'm stuck." A voice said from a bulge in the phone cord.

The muscled ghost pulled a hammer from out of nowhere. "Well, I'll un-stuck ya."

The muscled ghost slammed the mallet onto the phone cord, making a third ghost shoot from the phone. The third ghost, whom looked more normal than the others, grabbed hold of Dingodile as he passed by, stopping himself from going straight into the wall.

"Oh! Greetings!" The third ghost said to Dingodile. "We're the Spirit Squad, at your service, sir!"

Dingodile whimpered. "When am Ah gonna wake up from this nightmare?"

_To be continued…_

Biff Atlas (Luigi's Mansion) is playing Freako's role

Slim Bankshot (Luigi's Mansion) is playing Shrieko's role

Shivers (Luigi's Mansion) is playing Meeko's role


	4. The Neighbors

**Chapter four: The Neighbors**

**(Bedroom)**

If Dingodile wasn't a part of it, he wouldn't have believed it. But there he was, standing in front of three actual ghosts. These guys called themselves exterminators, and that confused Dingodile as to why they would track their own kind.

The hybrid needed to make sure that he had the right guys. "Alright, let me get this straight. You guys are…Ghost exterminators?" He asked.

"That's right, mac." The muscled ghost replied. "The Spirit Squad. I'm Biff Atlas."

"I'm Slim Bankshot." The lanky ghost replied.

"And my name is Shivers." The third ghost finished.

"If they're haunting, WE'RE hunting!" Biff concluded.

"Um…You look like ghosts, too." Tiny noticed, still a little frightened.

"Well, what did you expect? Certainly we're ghosts!" Biff laughed. "It takes one to catch one, ya know."

"Expect in our case, it takes three." Slim joked. "Heh heh heh."

"Wow! Real ghost-ghost hunters!" Coco said in amazement. "This is so cool!"

"Well, Ah appreciate the offer, guys." Dingodile said. "But Ah think we can handle it. Ah think we have enough ghosts hanging around here to begin with."

"Hey. You called us, didn't you?" Biff quizzed. "That tells us that you have an infestation that needs to be taken care of."

"Well…Ah…Uh…" Dingodile stammered.

"You're still not convinced? Ya say ya need some more convincing? Okay." Biff said as he turned to his cohorts. "Hey, Slim. Gimmie the demonstrator."

"Most certainly!" Slim nodded as he turned to Shivers. "Shivers, the demonstrator."

"The demonstrator! Right!" Shivers said as he pulled a sack from out of nowhere and started pulling out random objects such as skulls, baseball bats and spiked balls. "Uh…I can't find it, Biff."

"Whaddya mean, you can't find it?" Biff asked. "Gimmie that bag!"

Biff reached out and grabbed the sack Shivers was holding, but to do so, he had to reach straight through Slim's midsection.

Unfortunately, Slim was extremely ticklish. The instant Biff's hand went through his body, Slim started laughing uncontrollably. Through his laughter, he managed to get his request out. "Don't do that!" He cried.

Biff pulled the sack through Slim's body and narrowed his eyes. "Shaddap." He said as he whacked Slim over the head with the sack, burying the lanky ghost's head between his shoulders.

Seeing Slim in peril, Shivers silently reach between the lanky ghost's shoulders and pulled his head back up.

"Now let's see…Where IS that thing?" Biff asked, diving into the sack and throwing out more random objects.

"These guys remind me of some people from a long time ago, but I can't quite put my finger on it." Coco whispered.

"Ah know. It feels so weird that Ah can't come up with the names." Dingodile agreed.

"Ah! Here it is!" Biff said, climbing out of the sack with a wind-up ghost. The muscled ghost then started winding up the key. "A demonstrator ghost. Now you'll see the Spirit Squad in action."

Biff placed the ghost in front of Dingodile's face, where it stayed afloat in midair. However, once biff let go, it sprang to life. "BOO!" The dummy screamed, scaring Dingodile and making him jump away.

With that, the demonstrator started flying around the room at high speeds, as if no one was able to catch it.

Biff smirked. "Okay, Spirit Squad! Grab that ghost!" He ordered.

"Aye aye, Biff!" Slim and Shivers said as one.

However, the demonstrator flew past them. Shivers did a double-take and looked at it, but accidentally sent his head through Slim's body, resulting in another round of hysteric laughter from the lanky ghost.

"Don't! Don't do that!" Slim begged.

Shivers quickly pulled his head from the other ghost's body. "Sorry about that, Slim." He said.

All three members of the Spirit Squad flew after the demonstrator, trying to catch it. However, they were flying at eye-level and weren't paying attention to where they were going, which meant that Dingodile, Tiny and Coco all had to jump out of the way several times to avoid getting hit.

In the process of trying to catch the demonstrator, the ghosts flew into one of the curtains on the bed, knocking it off. The ghosts kept on flying, but the curtain landed directly on top of Tiny's head. The huge feline, whom was afraid of the dark, screamed in terror as he tried to find his way out of the curtain. However, while he was doing so, he blindly ran forward, unknowingly heading straight for Dingodile.

"Tiny, stop! Tiny!" Dingodile said, but it was no use. Tiny ran straight into his best friend and continued running, pushing Dingodile along with him. Coco had been lucky enough to dive out of the way in time, and could only watch as Dingodile was getting pushed towards the closed door leading out into the hallway.

Wily chose that time to open the door to the bedroom. "What IS all of the noise coming from up here?" The old butler asked. The demonstrator ghost suddenly flew past him. "Huh? What was that?"

Suddenly, the Spirit Squad flew past the butler as well, causing Wily to spin around wildly. Wily was able to stop himself, but didn't have time to avoid Tiny running into him, carrying Wily out the door with Dingodile.

"The night's only just begun and already I can tell that this is going to be the most hectic night of our lives." Coco mused as she ran out the door to give chase.

Tiny ran down the hallway and ended up at the staircase, where he tripped and landed on the banister, sliding down headfirst with Dingodile and Wily now on his back. The two reluctant riders suddenly saw the post at the bottom of the stairs and panicked.

"Ah suggest you hold on, Wily!" Dingodile suggested.

"Somehow, I don't believe it's going to help!" Wily replied.

Unfortunately, Wily was right. Tiny slid into the post headfirst. This stopped the huge tiger, but it sent Dingodile and Wily flying into the air, sending them at the chandelier hanging in the middle of the main foyer. The two, acting on instinct, grabbed hold of the chandelier, even though that wasn't a very smart move.

This was proven as the chandelier started pulling itself from the ceiling underneath the combined weight of the hybrid and the butler. The chandelier fell from the ceiling and fell straight into the wooden floor.

"Oww…That smarts…" Tiny said as he poked his head out of the curtain and rubbed his head.

Donkey Kong suddenly walked into view and sympathetically patted Tiny's head. "Aww…" The huge ape said. "Poor kitty…"

Tiny's eyes widened as he looked up, straight into Donkey Kong's face. Tiny screamed again, leapt into the air and took off, flying out of the curtain at the same time.

"Big ape! Big ape!" Tiny screamed as he flew past the wreckage of the chandelier. Once he did, Dingodile and Wily climbed out of the wreck and stood up. They looked ahead and saw Donkey Kong approaching, although he was mainly chasing after Tiny.

"Oh, no!" Both Dingodile and Wily cried at the same time. They both screamed as they took off running after Tiny.

"Wait fer us, Tiny!" Dingodile cried.

The Spirit Squad, in the meantime, was still chasing down the demonstrator. Biff was holding a mallet and pulled it back to slam it down and crush the demonstrator, but all he did was hit Slim in the head several times when he pulled it back.

Coco was standing by the door and was watching as everyone ran past. "And they're off! It's Tiny by a head! Dingodile, Wily, the ape and the Spirit Squad are bringing up the rear!" The female bandicoot said like a horse-race announcer. "Going around the clubhouse turn, it's Tiny still in the lead!"

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Coco, standing in front of the front door, was the one to answer it, as everyone else was still in the middle of their huge chase.

Standing just outside was a female human with blonde hair and a couple of antennae-like bangs slicked back. She was clad in a red top and a pair of denim shorts and was holding a mug in her hand.

"Hi!" Coco greeted.

"Hey, there! I'm Larxene and I'm your new neighbor around these parts!" The girl greeted. "I was just wondering if I could borrow a cup of black molasses."

The demonstrator ghost, in the meantime, had arrived at an old record player and started playing music on it. This cause the Spirit Squad to stop their chase and start dancing along.

"Oh! You're all having a party?" Larxene asked.

Coco shrugged. "Looks like it. Come on in." She said, trying to be as friendly as possible.

Larxene suddenly saw Dingodile running by and stepped in. "Mind if I cut in?" She asked as she took Dingodile's hands and started dancing, although it looked more like she was dragging him around more than dancing.

Coco saw the look in Larxene's eyes and, in all honestly, didn't like it. She looked like the kind of girl that would go after a man if she thought he was cute enough, and seeing the look in her eyes around Dingodile made Coco almost wish she didn't invite her in.

"She'd better not try anything on him." Coco muttered.

Donkey Kong, in the meantime, had cornered Tiny. "Let's boogie!" The huge ape said, attempting to take Tiny's hands and start dancing.

Tiny did the only thing he could think of, and that was run around the huge ape and run at Wily.

Donkey Kong approached the two an attempted to grab Tiny again, but the huge feline avoided it and caused the huge ape to grab Wily instead. Donkey Kong didn't seem to notice that he had made a mistake and started dancing with Wily, holding the old butler off the ground.

Tiny took this chance to slink away, but before he could get very far, Slim appeared, took his hands and started dancing with him.

"You're a pretty good dancer, pal." Slim said.

Tiny, still not used to the fact that the Spirit Squad were on his side, screamed, broke away from Slim and ran off.

Larxene was still 'dancing' with Dingodile, although that had turned more into throwing him around, holding onto one of his arms the entire time. However, she accidentally let go of Dingodile's arm, sending the hybrid flying straight out the front door.

"Whoops! Looks like I got a little too carried away!" Larxene said as she ran out to see if Dingodile was alright.

Outside, Larxene looked around for Dingodile, but didn't see any sign of him. "Yoo-hoo! Where are ya, cutie-pie?" She asked.

Dingodile was standing at the side of the house, dusting himself off, when he heard Larxene call for him. Not really liking where she was going, Dingodile attempted to dive into a bush to hide, and he would have had a black-haired man with an eyepatch not rise from it with a gun in his hands.

"What're ya doing trespassing on these parts?" The man asked.

Dingodile struggled to reply, but Larxene came over and gave the reply for him. "Aw, he isn't trespassing, Xigbar. He's our new neighbor that moved into the Koopa Mansion! Oh, isn't he just cute?" She asked.

Dingodile, although feeling uneasy at the sound of Larxene calling him 'cute', nodded. "Yeah. Ya see, Ah inherited the place from mah uncle." He replied.

Xigbar's good eye widened. "Your uncle? You mean that you're a Koopa?" He asked. "My family's worst enemy? Your part of the same clan my clan's been fighting for a hundred and forty-five years?"

"Well…Ya see…I'm not…Um…" Dingodile stammered, not liking where this was going. "Well, it's nice ta meet ya, anyway."

Xigbar place two fingers into his mouth and whistled. "Hey, boys! We've got us another Koopa!" He called out.

_**"KOOPA?"**_ Eleven voices called from the woods as gunshots rang out from all directions.

Dingodile screamed and ran back towards the front door to the mansion. However, the instant he was in front of the front door, Dingodile saw his uncle's ghost blocking his path.

"Leave this place!" Bowser warned once again. "Leave this place!"

"Oh, how Ah wish Ah could." Dingodile whimpered. He looked down at the front yard and saw Xigbar taking aim with his gun. Dingodile screamed and ran into the mansion again.

Larxene wrestled the gun from out of Xigbar's hands. "You stop that, brother!" She ordered.

"But he's a Koopa!" Xigbar insisted.

"I don't care!" Larxene replied. "I think he's just darling! In fact, I intend to marry up with him!"

"WHAT?" Xigbar shouted. "My little sister getting hitched to a Koopa? As if!"

Larxene's eyes flared up. "Just try and stop me!"

With that, Larxene took Xigbar's gun and wrapped it around his neck, tying the two ends in a knot.

"Aw, for crying out loud!" Xigbar said. "Why the heck did you have to take that darn mail-in muscle course?

_To be continued…_

Larxene (Kingdom Hearts) is playing Sadie May's role

Xigbar (Kingdom Hearts) is playing Billy Bob's role

The rest of Organization XIII played the other gunmen (and like Link, that was the last time they'll appear)


	5. The First Jewel

**Chapter Five: The First Jewel**

**(Kitchen)**

After narrowly escaping the wrath of Xigbar, the first thing Dingodile did was go to the kitchen and grab the phone. As Tiny and Coco watched him, Dingodile dialed the number for the sheriff's office and waited a few seconds.

"Hello? Is this the sheriff's office?" Dingodile asked. "Great. Is Sheriff Sam there?…No?" Dingodile sighed once before continuing. "Well, could ya get him ta come over ta Koopa Manor as soon as ya can?…Thanks."

With that, Dingodile hung up the phone. The hyrbid then turned to his friends.

"Ghosts! Guns! A gooney girl!" Dingodile said. "Oy. We gotta get outta here, mates."

Coco walked over to a cupboard and opened it. "But we can't leave until we get your jeep out of the mud, and that won't even be until the morning." She said as she closed the cupboard and went over to the next one. "So why don't we start searching for your uncle's hidden fortune?"

Tiny, for the first time in a while, smiled. "Okay!" He said as he opened up the oven door and stuck his head in. After a few seconds, the huge feline pulled his head out, a bat now resting on his head. "Nothing in oven."

Suddenly, Tiny noticed the bat on his head and shooed it away frantically. "Ack! Shoo! Shoo! Shooey!" Tiny said, swinging his arms around to wave the bat away.

The bat then flew around Dingoile, whom quickly waved his arms around as well. "Aw, go on, ya bat! Get outta here!" He shouted, finally making the bat fly out of an open window. "Guys, why don't we just forget about lookin' fer diamonds?" He suggested. "Like the sheriff said, it's all a lot of nonsense! Wily probably just made that whole story up!"

"But Dingodile!" Coco said. "What if there IS a fortune here? You'd be entitled to every penny!"

"We'd just be on a wild goose chase, Coco." Dingodile replied. He looked at the fridge and his stomach started gurgling. "Oy. Ah could really use a snack to calm mah nerves after all that gunfire. Like maybe some cold chicken."

Dingodile reached for the handle on the fridge and pulled it open. However, after the door was opened a bit, loud eating noises were heard from inside the fridge. Dingodile abruptly shut it. "S-Something's inside the fridge, mates!" He said.

"Let's see what it is, Dingodile." Coco said, walking over.

"What if it monster?" Tiny asked, slightly nervous. "You see ape."

"Tiny, that lug wouldn't be able to fit in the fridge." Coco said. "Heck, you're smaller than it and even YOU wouldn't be able to fit in it."

Even though he was thinking against it, Dingodile opened the fridge door all the way. Inside the fridge, much to the surprise of the three friends, was the Spirit Squad, eating some leftovers in the fridge.

"Oy! What're ya three doing in the fridge?" Dingodile asked.

"Oh, we were just freshening up." Biff said. "Now we're all ready to eradicate those ghosts of yours!"

"Yeah! Lemme at 'em! Lemme at 'em!" Slim said, leaping out of the fridge with a couple of boxing gloves on. He took a couple of practice swings, striking Biff and Shivers a couple of times. "I'll give those creeps a fat lip!"

Biff, easily annoyed, grabbed Slim by the head and spiked him into the floor. Slim slowly got up, his head swelling several times.

"And a fat head to go with it." Biff said. "Now come on, you guys. We've got work to do! We'll start in the attic."

With that, Biff and Slim rose into the air and went into the ceiling, vanishing. However, Shivers stayed behind, looking a little nervous. Biff's head and shoulders came from the ceiling again, looking down at the third ghost.

"What's YOUR problem?" Biff asked.

"Um…Well, I don't really want to go up to the attic, Biff." Shivers replied nervously. "You see…I'm…Uh…A-Afraid of heights."

"Oh, come on, ya yellow-belied…" Biff muttered as he reached down, grabbed Shivers and pulled the reluctant ghost into the attic with him.

"What bunch of ding-a-lings!" Tiny noted.

"Ding-a-lings is right, Tiny." Dingodile replied. "Ah wonder if those misty maniacs even left us any food to eat."

"Hey! Maybe there's some ice cream in the freezer section!" Coco pointed out the unopened freezer above the fridge.

"Ice cream? Oh, boy!" Tiny said. He opened up the freezer and saw that the only thing in the freezer was an ice cube tray.

"Man. It's just ice." Coco said.

Tiny's eyes lit up. "Hey! Wait, Coco! It not just ice!"

With that, Tiny reached into the freezer and pulled out the tray. He then showed it to his friends, revealing that there was a sparkling diamond sitting in one of the cube sections.

"It diamond!" Tiny said.

"Wow! It IS a diamond!" Coco said excitedly. "Look at it!"

"Oy! Mates, maybe there IS something to these family jewels stories Wily keeps going on about!" Dingodile pointed out.

"Is there anything else in the freezer, Tiny?" Coco asked, seeing that she wasn't tall enough to check herself.

Tiny looked into the freezer again and pulled out something else. It was revealed to be a folded piece of paper. "It look like letter!" He exclaimed.

"It's got your name on it, Dingodile." Coco examined. "You go ahead and read it."

"Okay." Dingodile said as he took the letter from Tiny, unfolded it and started reading it. "It says: 'Dear Dingodile, knowing the appetite of you and yer friends, Ah figured that the freezer would be a great place ta hide this massage and diamond. The diamond is one of many in mah fortune, which Ah hid ta keep away from mah enemies. Ta find the next clue, go outside and look fer the part of the house with it's knee stickin' up'."

Unknowing to the three friends, a shadow appeared at the doorway to the kitchen and had heard what had been read. The shadow quickly vanished as quickly as it came.

"With it's 'knee' sticking up?" Coco asked.

"Tiny is confused." Tiny pointed out.

"So what should we do, Dingodile?" Coco asked.

"Well, it'll definitely take our minds off of everything that's been goin' on around here." Dingodile nodded. "Let's head outside and see what we can find."

"I KNEW that the treasure was real!" Coco said. "And now we're going to find it all!"

"Yay! We go on treasure hunt!" Tiny said as he followed his friends out of the kitchen door. "This going to be fun!"

"That's what Ah hope, Tiny." Dingodile replied. "But Ah don't think it's gonna be that easy."

**(Outside)**

Dingodile poked his head out the front door to the mansion and looked around. He didn't hear any gunshots, so he assumed it was safe to go out now. "Okay, guys. Just remember ta keep quiet and we can avoid the guns." He noted.

Dingodile, Coco and Tiny left the house and started looking around the house for something that would have resembled a house's 'knee'. The three split up to search so they could cover more ground.

Tiny ended up furthest away from the front door. The huge feline scratched his head. "If Tiny were house's knee, where would he hide?" He asked himself.

Out of curiosity, Tiny poked his head into a bush. However, the instant he did, a very familiar ape rose from it and looked down at him.

Tiny sighed. "Why is it always Tiny?" He asked himself. With that, he leapt into the air, screamed and took off. Donkey Kong started following him.

Dingodile, in the meantime, was searching through a nearby bush. "Man. Ah gotta be crazy. Ah mean, Ah'm lookin' fer knees on a house!" He said.

Suddenly, a pair of slender arms reached from the bush and grabbed Dingodile's shoulders, surprising him. Larxene quickly rose from the bush. "How about lips on a girl, honey?" She asked as she pulled Dingodile into the bush and started plating kisses all over his face.

"Ah, man! Yuck!" Dingodile shouted as he leapt out of the bush and ran off. Larxene stepped out of the bush and watched him run off. In fact, she would have run after him had Xigbar not come running onto the scene, stopping beside her.

"Was that the Koopa punk I saw kissing you?" Xigbar asked.

"Sure was, Xiggy!" Larxene nodded. "Oh! Ain't he cute?"

Xigbar smirked and loaded his gun. "Oh, I'll show him 'cute'." He said as he took off after Dingodile.

"You stop that, Xigbar!" Larxene shouted after her brother, but without making a move to go after him.

Xigbar chased Dingodile around the side of the mansion, firing his gun blindly. A few seconds after the two vanished from Larxene's view, Xigbar came running back around the side of the house, screaming in terror. Dingodile and Tiny were following, both of them terrified as well. But what caught Larxene's attention the most was the huge, brown ape that was following them.

Larxene gave a loud scream in fright, turned around and started running as well. This continued as Donkey Kong started chasing all four people around the next corner of the house.

Around the corner, Coco was continuing to search. The female bandicoot had to step around a few bricks, which had fallen from the roof earlier, but she paid it no mind and continued looking.

"This doesn't make any sense." Coco muttered. "How could a house have knees?"

Suddenly hearing a series of screams, Coco turned her head and saw everyone running at her. Dingodile, Tiny, Xigbar and Larxene flew past Coco, screaming like maniacs, but as Donkey Kong was following, another brick fell from the roof and landed square on his head. Donkey Kong, taken aback by this sudden strike, became too dazed to give chase and stumbled off.

Coco, although slightly surprised at the events that just transpired, looked at a brick on the ground and picked it up. "Of course! So THAT'S what the clue means!" She said. Looking ahead, Coco saw the ground of four running at her again, seemingly oblivious that the ape was no longer behind them. "Stop!" Coco said.

After stepping aside to let Larxene and Xigbar run by, Coco jumped on top of Tiny's back as he was passing to get his attention. "Guys, stop! The ape's gone!" She said.

This made Dingodile and Tiny stop running. Larxene and Xigbar, however, continued running and vanished into the woods.

"AND I figured out what that clue means as well!" Coco said.

"Oh! Ya mean about the house's knee?" Dingodile asked.

"Right! It's the chim-'ney'! The chimney!" Coco pointed out. "Get it?"

Dingodile sighed. "Ah, great. Now we gotta go climbing on the roof."

"Well, it all we got, Dingodile." Tiny provided. "We best go check."

"Yeah. Yer right, pal." Dingodile nodded. "Come on. Let's find a ladder."

**(Roof)**

After finding a ladder tall enough to reach the roof on the mansion, the three friends climbed onto the roof to reach the chimney. The first thing Dingodile realized was that his uncle didn't know how to construct a roof properly. The slant on either side of the roof was the steepest and slipperiest he'd ever seen and bricks were occasionally falling from the chimney itself.

"Note to self: Fix roof." Dingodile mused as he staggered towards the chimney. "Whatever ya do, don't look down, guys."

Tiny did the obvious and looked down anyway. Seeing that it was at least twenty feet from the bottom of the roof to the ground made Tiny uneasy on its own, but the sheer fact that it was hard to keep his balance on the roof made the huge feline wish he had just stayed on the ground to hold the ladder.

Eventually, the three friends made it to the chimney. Dingodile quickly saw that the chimney was too tall for him to reach the top of it, so he turned to his friend. "Oy, Tiny? Can ya give me a boost, mate?" He asked.

Tiny nodded. "Okay, Dingodile." He said as he crouched low, allowing Dingodile to get onto his shoulders. Tiny then stood up, giving Dingodile more than enough reach to get to the top of the chimney.

It didn't take long for Dingodile to find what he was after, and that was another sparkling diamond sitting where a brick used to be, another clue sitting folded up beside it. Dingodile beamed as he took the gem and clue. "Oy! I got it, mates!"

Suddenly, a skeleton rose from the chimney and gave a loud and evil-sounding cackle. This made Dingodile attempt to back away in fright, but because he was still on Tiny's shoulders, this just made the huge feline lose his balance. Tiny slipped and started sliding down the slanted roof, bringing Dingodile with him. And Coco was knocked over on Tiny's way down, dragging the female bandicoot down with them.

Thinking quickly, Dingodile grabbed the trough at the edge of the roof and held on for dear life. Tiny grabbed Dingodile legs and Coco grabbed Tiny's tail. The three friends held onto the trough, fearing the fall that was ahead of them.

And if that weren't enough, the skeleton jumped down to the trough and started pulling on it, making parts of it snap away from the roof.

Dingodile knew that if they were to have any chance at survival, they would need some serious help soon.

_To be continued…_


	6. The Recovery

**Chapter Six: The Recovery**

**(Roof)**

Dingodile continued to hold onto the gutter for dear life, although the skeleton ghost was still ripping it from the roof, meaning that the hybrid would have to let go sooner or later. Dingodile swallowed realizing that if something happened, not only would he be responsible for what happened to himself, but to Tiny and Coco as well. And that was truly the last thing he wanted. Dingodile closed his eyes and prayed for a miracle.

Meanwhile, three distinct figures appeared in the chimney, their head and shoulders sticking into the open.

"Hey, guys! Look! There's a ghost!" Biff pointed out.

"Whoaaa…" Shivers said, somehow scared of the ghost despite being one himself.

"Come on! Let's grab him!" Slim shouted.

The skull ghost looked back and saw the Spirit Squad in the chimney. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to finish the friends off now, the skull ghost let go of the gutter and scampered away.

The Spirit Squad would have made a move to go after the ghost, but all three of them were stuck in the chimney due them all being there at the same time. The three ghosts struggled to get out of the chimney.

"Come on, guys! You wanna let the ghost get away?" Biff asked.

"Oh, do I ever!" Shivers nodded. "May I be excused, Biff? Please?"

Biff smirked. "Why, sure." With that, he stuck his thumb into his mouth and blew his fist into a huge ball. "Going down."

Biff bonked Shivers on the head with the huge fist, knocking the third ghost loose and sending him back down the chimney. This allowed more than enough elbow room for Biff and Slim.

Dingodile felt the trough starting to give on its own and looked up at the chimney. "Oy! You guys! Help us!" He cried. "The gutter's coming loose and Ah don't know how much longer Ah can hold onto it!"

Biff looked down and saw the three friends hanging from the roof. "Don't worry, guys! We'll save you!" He quickly looked at the other ghost. "Slim, you help them. I'll go after the ghost."

"No problem." Slim nodded.

Biff flew out of the chimney and flew in the direction the skull ghost had gone. Slim, in the meantime, flew out of the chimney and went down to assist the three mismatched friends hanging to the gutter.

"Have no fear, Slim Bankshot is here! Heh heh heh." Slim said as he grabbed hold of Dingodile's hands. "Okay, pal. You can let go of the gutter, now."

"But Slim! Yer a ghost!" Dingodile pointed out. "How can ya pull us up?"

"Oh, details, details." Slim said, shaking his head. "Get trust me and let go, will ya?"

Dingodile didn't like the idea, but he didn't really have much of a choice. "Well…Okay." He said uneasily as he let go of the gutter.

As if you were expecting something else to happen, Dingodile dropped, pulling Slim's arms down with him, stretching the lanky ghost's arm out to amazing lengths. Slim screamed as he finally gave in and was pulled down as well.

Miraculously, all four landed in a bush, unharmed from the fall from the roof. Dingodile, Tiny and Coco stood up and groaned in pain as Slim got up as well.

"Heh heh." Slim laughed nervously. "Well, I guess this is one on me."

"One on Slim?" Tiny asked, not really getting it.

"Well, thanks for trying, Slim." Coco said.

"Hey, it's no problem." Slim nodded. "Just doing my part to help out."

Everyone saw Biff floating over, and he didn't look too pleased.

"How'd it go, Biff?" Dingodile asked.

"The ghost got away." Biff replied.

"Aw, too bad." Slim said as he floated over to his fellow ghost. He then perked up. "Hey! Did ya look in the updock?" He asked.

Biff raised an eyebrow. "Updock?" He repeated as he turned to Slim with a confused expression. "What's 'updock'?"

"Nothing! What's up with you?" Slim laughed. After a few seconds of laughing, he quieted down. "Hoo, boy! Did I ever get a kick out of that!"

Biff wasn't too thrilled, though. "Yeah? Well get a kick out of this!" He replied.

With that, the blonde-haired ghost grabbed Slim and packed him into a ball. Biff then gave Slim a hard kick sending him flying away like a soccer ball.

Sheriff Sam suddenly arrived and got out of his car. As soon as he shut the door behind him, Slim bounced off his head, pushing his hat below his eyes.

Biff smirked at the revenge he got. "Well, I gotta get back to work."

As soon as Biff left the scene, the sheriff wandered over to Dingodile as pulled the hat from over his eyes, setting it back on his head normally.

"Okay, ya varmint! What's going on?" Sam snapped.

"Uh…What?" Dingodile asked.

"Don't you play games with me, boy." Sam ordered. "I got a phone call to high-tail it over here, so here I am! Now what is it?"

Dingodile suddenly remembered the phone call he made earlier. "Well sheriff, it's like this." Dingodile explained. "There's these ghosts. There's this goofy girl. And then there's this guy Xigbar shootin' at us and-"

That was all Dingodile could get out before a bullet soared past him and shot Sam's hat off. The three friends shouted in fear, seeing how close it was to killing someone.

Sam picked up his hat, which now had a hole directly in the middle. "For crying out loud, Xigbar!" Sam shouted. "Curse you and that gun of yours!"

As Sam was putting the hat back on his head, another bullet shot past, snapping the sheriff's belt. Sam looked down in time to see his pants drop down to his ankles, revealing a pair of boxer shorts littered with teddy bears.

"Ack!" Sam shouted as he promptly pulled his pants back up. He then looked into the woods, where the shot had come from. "Shoot off an officer's pants, will ya? That does it, Xigbar! You just got yourself a ticket!"

That seemed to strike a nerve with the wild gunman, because gunfire started going off again. As Dingodile, Tiny and Coco rushed back towards the mansion, Sam rushed back over to his car, using one hand to hold his pants us.

"Calling Sheriff Sam. Calling Sheriff Sam." The police radio said. "Where are ya'll, Sam?"

Sam quickly arrived at the car and picked up the radio. This meant that he let go of his pants, which dropped to his ankles again. "What do you want? I'm in hot pursuit of the perpetrator!"

"We need you at the station, Sam." The voice on the other end explained. "We've found some more info on that escaped ape Donkey Kong."

This got Sam to get back into his police car and start it. "Okay, I'm on my way! Ten four!" He said.

Suddenly, another stray bullet came into view, striking and breaking on of the lights on top of Sam's police car. The sheriff silently looked into the woods.

"You're in big trouble, Xigbar." Sam pointed out simply. "When I come back, you're getting TWO tickets!"

With that, Sam drove off, leaving the three friends behind once again.

"Hey, Dingodile?" Coco asked.

"Yeah?" Dingodile replied.

"Remember when I said he was two corndogs short of a picnic basket?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Well, I was wrong." Coco said, shaking her head. "He's missing half the lunch."

Tiny chuckled for a few seconds before realizing something. "Dingodile still have clue? We read it, then." He said.

"Not out here." Dingodile said. "Not with all this gunfire going on. Let's go inside to read it."

The three friends quickly went inside to escape Xigbar's wrath again. Once the front door was shut behind them, Dingodile sighed in relief. "Well, now that we're outta the way on that maniac's gunfire, let's see what mah uncle has ta say this time."

"Yeah. Let's see what the clue says." Coco nodded. "I wonder if it'll be any easier this time."

Unknowing to the three friends, a very familiar ape steppe dup behind them and listened in as well.

"Let's see…" Dingodile said as he opened the clue and read it. "A broken key will unlock the next door." He read.

After hearing the clue, Donkey Kong silently scratched his head in confusion.

"Oy. Ah wonder what that means." Dingodile mused.

"Search me." Donkey Kong replied with a shrug.

Dingodile and Tiny's eyes snapped open at the voice and started shaking somehow knowing whom it was. The two turned around, saw Donkey Kong, screamed and took off running again. Coco watched as the huge ape gave chase, although he wasn't looking as menacing anymore.

Dingodile and Tiny arrived at a closet door and thought that it would be a good place to hide. Dingodile opened the closet and charged in with Tiny behind him, although neither of them noticed that the skull ghost was inside the closet, waiting for them, until the door had been shut. The two friends abruptly burst from the closet and ran away, screaming even more now, running past Donkey Kong at the same time.

"Looks like I've gotta get rid of this guy before we can continue." Coco sighed before giving a loud whistle. "Hey, ape-boy!"

Donkey Kong turned and saw Coco holding the front door open. "They ran outside! If you hurry, maybe you can catch them!" She instructed.

This seemed to be enough, because Donkey Kong quickly ran out the front door to 'give chase' to Dingodile and Tiny. The instant Donkey Kong was out the front door, Coco shut it.

"Well, that takes care of that." Coco said, brushing her hands off. "Now to find Dingodile and Tiny."

Coco quickly saw that a nearby curtain was shaking. Thinking that her friends were behind it, Coco walked over.

"Come on, guys. There's no danger, now." Coco said as she opened the curtain, only to reveal the skull ghost behind it rather than her friends.

"Oh, no?" The skull ghost taunted menacingly. "You're doomed, you little bandicoot!"

"That's what you think, skull-face!" Coco snapped, jumping onto the skull ghost and kicking at his back. "Time for some payback for on the roof!"

"Get off of me, you beast!" The skull ghost shouted as he broke free of Coco and ran off.

"Come back here and fight, you cowardly bag of bones!" Coco shouted, waving her fist in the air.

Coco suddenly heard a noise coming from the next room. Lifting her eyebrow in confusion, Coco ran off to investigate.

_To be continued…_

Author's note: Sorry that this chapter is shorter than the others. I just thought that this would be a good place to end the chapter at and I couldn't think of enough filler to put in.


	7. The Piano

**Chapter Seven: The Piano**

**(Mansion)**

Following the strange noise coming from the next room, Coco soon stumbled upon a grand piano sitting in the middle of the living room. The young bandicoot heard the noise coming from inside the piano, and that probably meant that there was someone inside it.

"Aha!" Coco whispered. "He's in there! I think it's time to give ol' skull-head an ear-full."

With that, Coco jumped onto the piano stool and sat down. After cracking her knuckles, Coco then started to slam her hands down on several keys, repeatedly going up and down the piano. The result was many loud and annoying noises which might even be able to break the skull ghost's eardrums if he even had any.

However, Coco's plan wasn't as good as she thought it was, because the lid of the piano opened up after a few seconds. Unfortunately, it wasn't the skeleton ghost hiding in the piano, but Dingodile and Tiny instead. Both friends jumped out of the piano, holding their ears in pain.

Hearing the two familiar shouts, Coco stopped playing and looked up, finding herself staring into two very angry glares.

"What big idea?" Tiny asked.

"Yeah, Coco! What's the big idea?" Dingodile asked. "Ya trying ta blow our ears off?"

"Gee guys, I'm sorry." Coco apologized. "I thought the skeleton ghost was hiding in there."

"Well, he wasn't. Tiny and Ah were just trying ta find a place ta hide." Dingodile replied before pointing down to a key on the piano that was sticking up slightly. "And look what ya did! Ya broke a key!"

"But I didn't-"

That was all Coco said before Dingodile pressed down on the key, resulting in a very unattractive-sounding noise. However, the three friends heard a strange noise coming from behind, turned and saw a section of the wall opening, revealing a secret room.

"Tiny doesn't get it." Tiny said, scratching his head.

"Yeah. I don't get it either, Tiny." Coco added.

"Oy! Ah do!" Dingodile said as he fished the previous clue out of his pocket, reading it over again. "Remember the clue telling about a broken key unlocking the next door? It meant a broken PIANO key!"

"Hey! You're right!" Coco exclaimed. "Then the next clue's probably in that room somewhere! Come on! Let's go check it out!"

With that, Coco rushed headfirst into the room. Dingodile and Tiny hesitantly followed.

"Ah'm not sure about this, Coco." Dingodile mused. "It looks kinda dark in there."

"Yeah. REAL dark." Tiny nodded.

"We'll just grab the clue and get out of this room in a jiffy! Don't worry, guys." Coco assured.

"Tiny would really hate to get stuck in here." Tiny said as he and Dingodile walked into the room to help Coco search.

Unknowing to the three friends, the skeleton ghost poked his head around a corner. Sneaking over to the piano, the ghost pressed the broken key on the piano, and sure enough, the wall started closing again, starting to seal the three friends in the room.

Dingodile noticed this all too late. "Oh, no!" He said as he tried to keep the wall from closing. However, there was nothing he could do to prevent it, and the wall closed, leaving the three in total darkness.

"We're trapped in here, mates!" Dingodile said.

"Now what do we do?" Coco asked.

"There's gotta be a way outta here!" Dingodile replied. "Maybe we just don't know it yet."

"It easier to see if we have light to see." Tiny mused.

"Yeah. I sure wish we could see what was in here." Coco sighed.

Suddenly, a huge orb of white energy materialized out of nowhere, turning into a menacing, white monster face. The three looked at the snarling monster with wide eyes.

"Tiny wish he couldn't." Tiny whimpered.

"Bleh! Bleh!" The monster snarled, resulting in screams of terror from the three friends.

However, the face vanished, replaced by a familiar lanky ghost, whom was laughing his head off.

"Man! That was pretty terrifying, eh?" Slim asked.

"Slim!" Dingodile accused, not looking too pleased with the lanky ghost's stunt.

"Yeah! How'd ya like my screaming ghoul imitation?" Slim asked. "Boy, is it a riot at parties!"

Suddenly, Biff and Shivers flew into the room to join Slim. "What's going on here?" Biff asked.

"Oh. Hey, guys." Slim greeted. "I was just showing these guys my scary face."

"YOUR scary face?" Biff asked. "Ha! That ain't nothing compared to MY scary face! Watch this!"

"Ack! Oh, it's so horrible! I've never seen something so ugly and terrifying!" Shivers said, frantically covering his eyes. "Oh! I'm telling you that I just can't stand it!"

"Hey, wait a minute, nitwit! I ain't doing it yet!" Biff pointed out. "This is the way my face always looks!"

"Heh heh. I know." Shivers chuckled.

"Oh, man! You got pwned, Biff!" Slim laughed. "Did he ever get you there!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, both of ya get this!" Biff said as he grabbed Slim and Shivers, slamming their heads together.

"Oy! Knock it off, you guys!" Dingodile shouted. "We need ta find our way out of here!"

"Hey, Dingodile! Wait!" Coco said.

Everyone turned and saw Coco grabbing another diamond and letter, which was placed on a part of the inside wall. The female bandicoot walked back over to Dingodile. "Look at this letter, Dingodile! It'll tell us where to go next!"

"Ah'll try." Dingodile nodded as he took the letter. "Oy. It's just so dark in here. Ah can't read it."

Slim floated over. "Don't worry, pal." He assured. "I'll just do my imitation of a headlight."

"Headlight?" Tiny asked, confused.

"Yeah! That's when my whole head lights up!" Slim said as he grabbed his ear, pulled it and held his breath, turning his entire head into a lit lightbulb.

"Ah. That's better." Dingodile said as he started reading. "The next clue is with an old relative whose hands can't see and his hands can't hold."

That was the last of the clue, and it was just in time, as Slim couldn't hold his breath any longer. Slim's lightbulb head exploded, resulting in a scream from Slim.

"What's YOUR problem?" Biff asked.

"My head blew a fuse!" Slim replied, smoke starting to come from his ears.

"Well, a lot of help this clue's gonna do us." Dingodile sighed. "We're still trapped in here."

"Yeah." Coco nodded. "How're we supposed to get out of here?"

"Why, that's easy!" Shivers pointed out. "Just go through the wall! Like this!"

With that, Shivers flew through the wall, going into the next room. Tiny saw this and brightened. "Like this?" He asked as he ran headfirst into the wall, hoping to go through. Unfortunately, that was impossible, and the only thing Tiny managed to do was give himself a huge headache.

Shivers flew back into the close-off room. "Oh, dear! What happened?" He asked.

"Whaddya mean, 'what happened'?" Biff asked, floating over and grabbed Shivers angrily. "You dolt! He's not a ghost! He can't go through walls!"

Coco's eyes widened in realization. "No, but you guys can!" She said.

"Oy! That's right!" Dingodile said. "Why don't one of you guys go out there and hit the broken key on the piano? That'll open up the wall!"

"Oh! Me, me, me! Let me do it!" Slim said. "I just love to play the piano!"

"Never mind playing anything. Just hit the broken key." Biff said.

"Check." Slim said as he flew out of the room.

Slim quickly arrived at the piano and sat down. He lifted a finger and prepared to hit the broken key when he stopped. Slim looked back, smirked and started playing the piano normally. Biff floated out of the closed-off room and saw what Slim was doing. He narrowed his eyes and gave the stool a good spin. The surprised Slim was sent spiraling straight into the ceiling, coming back down as a flattened pancake. Biff grabbed him, shook Slim and returned him to his normal size.

"Now quit messing around and hit that broken key!" Biff shouted.

"Music hater." Slim mumbled as he pressed the broken key.

Sure enough, the wall opened up, letting everyone inside out again. "Now let's start looking for the next clue!" Coco said.

"You guys can look for clues, but we've still got ghosts to catch." Biff said. "Let's start looking."

Bif and Slim floated off to resume their search, but Shivers nervously flew off in the opposite direction, not really wanting to go continue.

"Wait a minute." Biff said as he flew back after Shivers. "Get back here, Shivers! You wimp!"

Shivers was inside a nearby grandfather clock, acting as a pendulum. Biff flew by, but noticed Shivers' cheap act and opened up the clock. "Get outta there!" He ordered.

Biff grabbed Shivers and floated away. In the meantime, the three friends walked over.

"Well, let's start looking fer where the next clue is." Dingodile said.

Coco looked up at the clock and brightened. "Wait! I know where the clue is!" She exclaimed.

"Really? Where is it?" Dingodile asked.

"Right here! The grandfather clock!" Coco observed. "It's an 'old relative', it's got a clock 'face' that doesn't see and hands that don't hold anything!"

"Oy! Ya gotta be right, Coco!" Dingodile exclaimed.

"Well, let's see if I am." Coco said as she opened up the clock and searched it. Her search was quick, as she pulled out another diamond and letter. "Alright! I found them! Look!"

"Oh, boy! Another diamond!" Tiny said in excitement. "Tiny thinks we going to find TON of diamonds!"

"And the next clue!" Dingodile added, taking the clue and reading it. Coco was left holding the diamond. "What does this clock lack besides a tock?"

"Oh! Tiny know! Tick!" Tiny said.

"That's right, Tiny! A tick!" Dingodile replied before looking confused. "A tick? What does a tick have to do to tell us where the next clue is?"

Unknowing to the three, a pair of hands reached down behind Coco. Coco didn't notice because she was looking at the others and Dingodile and Tiny were looking at the clue. Thus, none of them had any idea to the intruder's presence.

"Well, that's easy!" Coco replied. "A tick means-" That was all Coco could get out before the hands grabbed her from behind. One arm wrapped around her midsection while the other was clamped over her mouth. "-Mmmph!" Coco screamed as she was pulled off her feet and yanked out of sight.

"Uh…What was that ya were sayin', Coco?" Dingodile asked, looking up from the clue. However, seeing that Coco was no longer with them, his eyes widened. "Coco?"

Tiny noticed that Coco was gone as well. "Coco? Where Coco go?" He asked.

"Ah…I dunno, Tiny!" Dingodile said, getting more and more worried by the second. "She…She's gone!"

"Coco gone?" Tiny asked frantically. "Where? Why?"

"Ah can only think of one thing, Tiny…" Dingodile said.

"What that, Dingodile?" Tiny asked.

"Coco's been kidnapped!"

_To be continued…_


	8. The Rescue

**Chapter Eight: The Rescue**

**(Mansion)**

Dingodile still couldn't believe what had just happened. Coco had been with them just a few seconds ago, and had been snatched up while their backs were turned. Dingodile would have blamed himself for Coco's kidnapping, but he knew that he and Tiny didn't have a lot of time.

"Tiny, we gotta drop everything ta find Coco!" Dingodile said.

Tiny nodded. "Stop looking for jewels! We search for Coco instead!"

"Right. Come on! We need ta hurry!" Dingodile said.

Tiny seemed to lose all of his previous fear about the mansion, as he followed Dingodile without a second thought.

"Who do you think kidnap Coco, Dingodile?" Tiny asked.

Dingodile's eyes widened. "Ah sure hope it wasn't Xigbar. He's tryin' ta kill me and knows Coco's mah friend." He replied. "He could use her ta lure me outta the mansion."

Tiny's ears drooped. "Tiny hope it wasn't him too." He whimpered. "But what if ghost kidnap her?"

"That Ah wouldn't be surprised at." Dingodile replied. "The ghost seems ta be intent on drivin' us away and keepin' us from finding that treasure."

"Ghost could be trying to scare Coco into leaving!" Tiny said in realization.

Dingodile nodded. "And Coco was the one ta insist on stayin' in the first place." He added.

"We find Coco fast, Dingodile!" Tiny said. "She counting on us!"

"Ya got that right!"

The two friends search the next couple of rooms for a while, but came up with nothing. Darting down a hallway, Dingodile and Tiny stumbled upon Wily, whom was dusting off a mantle. Thinking that he might have seen something, the two rushed over.

"Oy! Wily!" Dingodile said, running over. "Perhaps ya can help us here!"

"What is it?" Wily asked, not bothering to turn from his dusting.

"Have ya seen Coco?" Dingodile asked. "She was kidnapped and we think that the sneak responsible might have come down this way."

This caught Wily's attention, as he looked at the two and his eyes widened behind his glasses. "That furry bandicoot girl friend of yours got kidnapped?" Wily asked. "Why, no. I haven't seen anything lately."

Dingodile sighed. "Well, thanks anyways."

With that, Dingodile and Tiny went off in another direction, leaving Wily to his work. The search continued for a little longer and the two friends were starting to get worried that they might be taking too long.

"Tiny worried, Dingodile." Tiny said. "What if we no find Coco?"

"We'll find her, Tiny." Dingodile assured, although his gut told him otherwise. "She's gotta be in the mansion somewhere, if not on the grounds."

Tiny nodded. "Okay. Tiny trust Dingodile. We continue searching."

As the search continued, Tiny noticed that Dingodile was looking more worried than he was letting on. The huge feline lifted an eyebrow at his friend's odd behavior, but decided against opening his mouth to make note of it. In fact, Tiny had been seeing these odd actions for the past several months. Whenever Dingodile was asked if he 'liked' Coco, he always said that her kindness has made her a good friend to him, and everyone seemed to buy it.

However, something just seemed to click inside Tiny's head. After several months, the huge tiger had finally figured out what this strange behavior was all about.

'_Dingodile have crush on Coco!' _Tiny thought. _'That why he so worried!'_

Although Tiny was extremely tempted to shout out that he had finally figured something out on his own, he once again decided against it, knowing that Dingodile probably wanted things to be kept secret.

"Any thoughts on where Coco might be, pal?" Dingodile asked as he walked into the living room.

This brought Tiny out of his train of thought, but he shook his head. "No, Dingodile. Tiny have no clue." He replied.

Dingodile sighed. "Well, let's look around here fer the next bit."

Suddenly, the two heard a thumping noise coming from the corner of the living room. Thinking it was Coco, Dingodile and Tiny rushed over.

Unfortunately, it wasn't Coco making the noise. Instead, it was Shivers, whom had accidentally bumped into a chair trying to get into a vase.

Dingodile, annoyed at the ghost's antics, grabbed the spout where Shivers' legs would be (because that was the only thing sticking out of the vase) and yanked him out. Dingodile held Shivers above the ground and stared at him.

"What's yer problem, mate?" Dingodile asked.

"I…I'm hiding from Biff!" Shivers explained. "If he finds me, he's sure to drag me along with him on this ghost hunt!"

"That's yer job, Shivers!" Dingodile replied. "So why don't ya get back to it!"

"I'm afraid of ghosts!"

"But Shivers IS ghost!" Tiny pointed out. "Why is he afraid of ghosts when he one himself?"

"I don't know! Every ghost I've seen here has just been freaking me out!" Shivers replied. "The ape, the skull ghost, the old Koopa ghost…"

"That 'old Koopa ghost' happens ta be mah uncle, Shivers." Dingodile said, eyes narrowed.

"…Really?" Shivers asked. "Now that I think about it, you have his nose."

Dingodile dropped Shivers to the ground in annoyance. Biff and Slim suddenly appeared at the doorway.

"Aha! There you are, ya wimp!" Biff said. "Look, we've got work to do, and Slim and I can't be spending the entire time looking for you, ya know!"

"Biff, I don't know if I can continue!" Shivers said. "These ghosts are scaring me!"

"Tough cookies, pal." Biff said. "Now come on. We need to get back to work."

"Oy! Maybe ya can help us, guys!" Dingodile said. "Ya haven't seen anything strange in the past few minutes, have ya?"

"Well, now that you mention it, we saw someone sneaking around on the upper level earlier." Slim said. "We thought it was one of you guys, because we thought we heard Coco's voice."

"Upstairs! Great! Thanks, guys!" Dingodile said. "Come on, Tiny! Now we know where Coco can be!"

"You guys continue your search. We'll continue searching for that skull ghost." Biff said.

"Oh, please! No! Anything but him!" Shivers pleaded.

"Too bad. That guy's the most dangerous ghost we've come across, so he needs to be wiped out first." Biff explained. "Now come on. Let's search the backyard."

"And while you at it, keep eyes open for gun-toting maniac." Tiny offered. "Him trying to shoot Dingodile."

"Thanks for the tip." Biff nodded. "We'll try to keep him away from the mansion if we see him."

With that, the two groups split up. Biff and Slim pulled Shivers through the far wall, leading outside as Dingodile and Tiny rushed into the main foyer and ran up the stairs as fast as they could.

Once the two got to the top of the stairs, Dingodile paused and stopped running. "Wait, Tiny." He said, causing Tiny to stop running as well.

"What wrong, Dingodile?" Tiny asked.

"The top floor's gotta have as many room as the lower floor." Dingodile explained. "How do we know where Coco is?"

"Well, why not…" Tiny said before catching a whiff of a strange, and yet very familiar scent.

"Why not what?" Dingodile asked.

"Dingodile, Tiny picking up a scent." Tiny replied, sniffing the air a couple of times. "It smell like…Perfume!"

"Ya smell Coco's perfume, Tiny?" Dingodile asked excitedly.

"And it very strong!" Tiny nodded. "Coco somewhere near!"

"Well, lead the way, Tiny!" Dingodile said. "Ya need ta use that node of yours ta find her!"

"Dingodile not worry!" Tiny assured. "Tiny find her!"

Tiny wandered down the upstairs hallway, constantly sniffing the air as the scent of Coco's perfume got stronger. Dingodile followed him, hoping that Coco was nearby. Eventually, the two friends arrived at a door. Tiny pressed his nose against the door and sniffed a couple of times.

After a few seconds, the huge feline's ears perked up. "Coco in there, Dingodile!" Tiny observed. "Coco's scent stronger on other side of door!"

Dingodile couldn't get his hand on the doorknob fast enough. Twisting the doorknob, Dingodile quickly opened the door, granting the two friends access to the room on the other side.

Inside the room, Dingodile made a scan of the room for any of the ghosts. Seeing nothing, Dingodile looked around the rest of the room. He quickly saw Coco laying on her side, bound hand and foot with rope, a strip of thick tape smoothed over her mouth, gagging her. A bottle of perfume sat near her bound hands, the lid off, allowing the scent of the perfume to fill the room. Dingodile realized that Coco was able to get her hands around the bottle and opened it, knowing that Tiny had a good nose and would pick up the scent in no time.

"Coco!" Dingodile cried as he rushed over to the bound bandicoot. He and Tiny knelt down beside Coco and got to work on freeing her. Tiny's claws made short work of the ropes tying Coco's wrists and ankles together, and Dingodile slowly peeled the tape from her mouth, making sure it didn't hurt her.

"Is Coco okay?" Tiny asked.

Once her mouth was free, Coco narrowed her eyes. "Oh, I'll be just fine." Her bonds were undone within seconds and she jumped to her feet. "Once I wring that old man's neck!"

With that, Coco stampeded out of the room, surprising both Dingodile and Tiny. The two confused friends jumped to their feet and ran out after her.

Coco flew downstairs with her rescuers right behind her. Coco rushed into the kitchen, where she spotted Wily fingering a diamond.

"Gimmie back that diamond, you thief!" Coco shouted, running at Wily.

Wily looked at Coco and quickly climbed onto the counter, holding the diamond far out of the poor girl's reach. "No! This one's mine!"

"Coco, what the heck's going on?" Dingodile asked, running over.

"This joker of a butler just mugged me for that diamond we found in the clock!" Coco accused.

"It's mine, I tell you!" Wily insisted. "The Colonel owed it to me after all these years of loyalty!"

Dingodile sighed in relief. While part of him was angry at Wily for doing such a thing to Coco, he was glad that it was only Wily, so she wasn't in any danger. The hybrid walked over to Coco, grasped her shoulders and started pulling her away.

"Coco, don't worry about it." Dingodile said. "If it's that important to him, just let him have it."

"Huh?" A surprised Coco asked as Dingodile pulled her towards the door to the kitchen. "What gives, Dingodile? You're just going to let him get away with that diamond?"

Tiny gave a nervous chuckle. "What one diamond, Coco? We going for all of treasure, aren't we?"

"Besides." Dingodile said, bringing his voice down to a whisper. "If Wily was willing ta do that to ya fer just one diamond, Ah say just leave him be."

Coco sighed in defeat. "Okay."

"Now, ya were just telling us what the last clue meant before we were so rudely interrupted." Dingodile reminded.

"You mean 'a tick'?" Coco asked. "Well, that's just what it says. 'A tick'."

"Uh…Coco lost Tiny." Tiny replied.

"Well, that's just where we've gotta look. In the 'ah-tick'. Attic!" Coco explained. "Come on! Let's go search."

Dingodile and Tiny nodded as the three friends continued their search, together again.

_To be continued…_


	9. The Attic

**Chapter Nine: The Attic**

**(Attic)**

The attic was as dark and scary as Tiny predicted it to be. Old furniture and antiques littered the attic, covered in dust and cobwebs. And the fact that the attic had no light made it even less pleasant for the huge feline. Tiny just wanted to find the clue and get out of the attic so he could get this part of the treasure hunt over with.

"The clue has to be around here somewhere." Coco mused. "Looks like we'll have to split up to cover more ground."

"Might be the only way." Dingodile nodded. "Okay. Just remember ta give a shout if ya find something."

Tiny whimpered. Now he had to search an entire part of the attic by himself, and this really wasn't helping his nerves all that much. Tiny was shaking so much that it looked like he was struggling just to stand.

Dingodile noticed this. "What's wrong Tiny?" He asked.

"T-Tiny afraid of ghosts." Tiny whimpered.

"Ah, don't be afraid of ghosts, Tiny." Dingodile replied.

"Yeah. The Spirit Squad already checked things up here." Coco added. "Remember? This was the first thing they checked."

Tiny nodded, feeling slightly better, although he was still scared. The three split up, going to different areas of the attic.

However, on the way over, Tiny passed through a cobweb hanging directly in front of his face. This caught Tiny completely off guard, resulting in a scream of terror from the huge tiger.

"What happened, Tiny?" Dingodile asked.

Tiny wiped off his face. "Tiny walk into cobweb."

Dingodile sighed. "Tiny, will ya smarten up?" He asked, annoyed.

Tiny narrowed his eyes at Dingodile, but didn't press the matter any further. Tiny quickly saw a trunk and opened it. After seeing its contents, Tiny's eyes lit up as a mischievous smirk floated across his face.

Meanwhile, Dingodile was searching through a chest. "Ya find anything yet, Coco?" He asked.

"Not yet." Coco's voice replied from somewhere in the attic. "But it's gotta be around here somewhere."

"Yer right. We'll find it." Dingodile nodded. "How about you, Tiny? Ya find it, yet?"

Dingodile looked back and saw a pair of long underwear towering over him with no hand and no head. Dingodile screamed and jumped into the chest to hide.

Tiny poked his head out of the neck hole in the long underwear he had slipped into and chuckled, amused at his little prank. Tiny opened up the chest Dingodile was hiding in and grinned. "It just Tiny, Dingodile." He said.

"Aw, dog-gone ya, Tiny." Dingodile said, once again annoyed at his friend's antics.

As Tiny walked off, chuckling to himself, Dingodile got out of the chest and looked around. "That was kinda embarrassin'." He mused.

"Hey, Dingodile!" Coco called out.

"Ah'm over here, Coco." Dingodile replied.

"I found the jewel and clue!" Coco replied victoriously as she came over with a gold necklace and letter. "They were hidden in one of the drawers in an old dresser!"

"Oy! Great work, Coco!"

"Thanks!" Coco said as she handed the clue and necklace to Dingodile. "Now let's find out where we're going next."

Dingodile nodded and opened up the letter. Unfortunately, he had trouble reading it. "Gah. It's just too dark up here. Ah can't even tell if Ah'm holding it the right way."

"Then maybe we should get back down to the living room to read it." Coco suggested.

"Right." Dingodile nodded. "Ya hear that, Tiny? Coco found the clue. Let's head out."

Dingodile turned and saw a tall, green jacket seemingly standing on its own, also without a head or hands showing.

The Australian hybrid, annoyed, sighed. "Will ya just stop that, Tiny?" Dingodile asked. "We're not amused."

"…N-Neither is Tiny…"

"HUH?" Dingodile asked as he looked in another direction, seeing Tiny attempting to hide in a trunk, but still being able to see what was going on. This meant that he wasn't responsible for the jacket standing before the others. Dingodile looked at the jacket again in time to see two skeleton hands emerge from the sleeves of the jacket. As Dingodile backed away in fear, one of the skeleton hands swiped the golden necklace out of his hand.

The ghost 'looked' over the necklace. "Claudia Koopa's necklace." The ghost said. "Why, I haven't seen this since before the Civil War." The ghost then pointed at Dingodile accusingly. "And as for you trespassers: Leave this place or suffer the consequences!" With that, the ghost turned around and started floating away.

However, Coco wasn't about to let the ghost get away with the necklace. "Hold it right there, buster!" She shouted as she jumped onto the back of the jacket and started attack with flurries of kicks and chops.

Unfortunately, this did little but annoy the ghost. "Get off! Get off of me, you fool!" He shouted, starting to flee.

"Coco, get off of him!" Dingodile insisted.

"Dingodile right!" Tiny nodded. "It bad luck to attack ghost!"

"Away I say!" The ghost ordered at Coco, stopping his retreat. "Away!"

With that, the ghost crumpled to the ground, bringing Coco down with him. Coco landed on her side, but jumped back up and stared down at the jacket menacingly, only to see that it was just a normal jacket again.

"Hey…" Coco said, looking at the limp article of clothing on the floor of the attic. "Where'd he go?"

"Where'd he go?" Dingodile asked. "Where do ghosts ever go?"

"Nowhere!" Tiny pointed out, shivering. "That where!"

Coco still wasn't buying this and grabbed the jacket, pulling it aside. Sure enough, there was a trapdoor on the floor underneath the jacket. Seeing this, Dingodile and Tiny dropped their fear and approached the trap door to inspect it as well.

"Oy! How about that?" Dingodile asked, looking down the trap door. "A ghost with an escape hatch!"

Coco scoffed. "Some ghost! He felt pretty solid to me."

"Well, whatever he was, he's gone now." Dingodile sighed in relief.

Tiny's ears drooped. "But we lose necklace, Dingodile." He said.

"It's alright." Dingodile assured. "It's just one piece of jewelry and Ah'd much rather lose the jewelry than risk the safety of you two."

Coco blushed, but did her best to hide it. "Well, we'd better get out of this attic." She suggested.

"Yeah. Then Ah'll be able to read this clue." Dingodile nodded.

**(Living Room)**

The three friends left the attic, climbing down the ladder leading into the hallway on the second floor. Going downstairs, the three arrived at the living room, and once they did, Dingodile found a light and turned it on, giving him enough light to read.

"Here's a riddle fer ya." Dingodile read. "What are ya called when yer not the buyer?"

"Not buyer?" Tiny asked, scratching his head.

"I wonder what that means." Coco added.

"Well, if Ah'm not the buyer, then Ah'm the guy that sells something, right?" Dingodile asked.

Before Coco and Tiny had time to reply, the three heard a loud banging noise coming from the hallway outside of the room.

"What's that?" Dingodile asked.

"Shh! It might be the ghost!" Coco whispered as she went towards the door.

"Shh! It might be the ghost!" Dingodile told Tiny as he followed after Coco.

Tiny looked to his left. "Shh! It might be..." Suddenly, Tiny realized that he wasn't talking to anyone. He quickly followed after his friends.

Stepping out into the hallway, the three friends heard the banging noise coming from around the corner. The three poked their heads around the corner and saw Wily banging on a door with a sledgehammer. After a couple of times, Wily grabbed the doorknob and opened the door a bit, then closed it again. He did a couple more tests before he was satisfied.

"There. That's fixed." Wily said as he pulled his handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his forehead. However, when he pulled the handkerchief out, something else fell from his pocket as well. Wily noticed this and looked down at it.

Seeing Wily, Dingodile sighed in relief. "It's just Wily." He noted.

Coco, however, didn't look too impressed. "Just Wily, huh? Look at that!" She whispered.

Dingodile and Tiny looked and their eyes widened when they saw the object that had fallen from Wily's pocket: The golden necklace that had been stolen from them in the attic. Wily picked up the necklace and laughed a couple of times before placing it back in his pocket.

"The necklace!" Tiny said, way too loud. Dingodile quickly slapped a hand over his friend's mouth, but it was already too late.

Wily heard the outcry and looked around suspiciously. "Who's there?" He asked.

Dingodile, Tiny and Coco quickly hid behind the corner again, hoping that Wily wouldn't come too close. Wily approached the corner the friends were hiding around, but didn't bother going around to search. Thinking that he had just been hearing things, Wily turned around and walked off. However, as he did, he failed to notice Coco's arm reach into the pocket and pulled the necklace out, taking it away.

Dingodile poked his head around the corner again and watched Wily until he was gone from sight. He looked at his female companion. "Great work, Coco!" He said, flashing a thumbs-up. "Why, Ah bet that was Wily up in the attic all along and he was just pretending to be a ghost!"

Coco rubbed her chin, as she didn't quite believe it. "Could be, but I don't know." She replied. "There's just something about this that doesn't seem right."

"You may not know, but Ah do!" Dingodile laughed as he placed the necklace into his pocket. "In fact, Ah bet that there's no real ghosts at all around here!"

"I resent that!" Biff shouted as he rose from Dingodile's pocket, the chain of the necklace hanging on his nose.

"Ack!" Dingodile said in surprise.

"I resent that, too!" Slim added, raising from Dingodile's other pocket.

"Whoa!" Dingodile shouted.

"Um…I don't mind." Shivers shrugged as he rose from another pocket.

"Aw, get outta there, you guys!" Dingodile shouted, annoyed, as he jumped in place several times, knocking the Spirit Squad out of his pockets, the necklace still hanging around Biff's neck.

"You guys are a real wipe-out, ya know that?" Dingodile quizzed as he took the necklace from Biff's nose.

"Yeah! And I bet that you three wouldn't know a real ghost if it was staring you right in the face!" Coco added.

"Oh, yeah?" Biff asked. "Well, what about that one right there behind ya?"

"Ghost? Behind me?" Dingodile chuckled. "Don't make me laugh!"

"Yeah! Tiny not falling for old joke like that!" Tiny laughed.

However, their tunes were changed suddenly when a white arm reached into view and took the necklace from Dingodile's palm.

The three turned around fearfully and found themselves staring into the solid, white eyes of Colonel Bowser's ghost. The old ghost laughed as he fingered the necklace.

"Why did I have a feeling that would happen?" Coco asked.

"Search Tiny." Tiny shrugged.

The three friends screamed as they ran off, attempting to get away from the old ghost of Dingodile's uncle.

_To be continued…_


	10. The Basement

**Chapter Ten: The Basement**

**(Mansion)**

Dingodile, Tiny and Coco ran away from Colonel Bowser's ghost in fear, seemingly forgetting about the necklace he took. Luckily, they had the Spirit Squad to help them escape.

"Quick, guys! Over here!" Biff said, going over to a door and opening it. Unfortunately, behind the door stood Donkey Kong, whom roared. The three friends, running towards the door at first, came to a screeching halt and took off in the other direction.

"No! Over here!" Slim shouted, opening up a window leading outside. Dingodile and Coco jumped through it easily, but Tiny became stuck part-way through. Slim gave him a push, managing to get Tiny outside.

"Ya know? Somehow, Ah feel like we're forgetting something." Dingodile mused as he got down behind a bush.

"Yeah. Like how we aren't supposed to come out here." Coco nodded. "I can't remember why, though."

Suddenly, gunshots were heard overhead, scaring all three friends. Dingodile dared to look above the bush and saw Xigbar standing several yards away, aiming his gun again.

"Hold still, Koopa!" Xigbar shouted, taking aim at Dingodile's head.

"Ah, no! Not him again!" Dingodile said as he turned tail and ran back towards the mansion, thinking he'd have an easier time with his uncle's ghost. Coco and Tiny followed suite, all three diving in through the window again.

Dingodile quickly saw Bowser running at him, preparing to swing his sword. The hybrid took off running, narrowly avoiding getting attacked. As Bowser was recovering from his own attack, Coco and Tiny ran off after Dingodile.

Shivers quickly opened up a door. "Quick, fellows! In here!" He said, causing the trio to run towards him and into the room the room on the other side of the door. "Oh, and watch that first-"

Shivers couldn't finish, because all three friends ended up tumbling down the stairs on the other side of the door. Apparently, the three were unaware that Shivers was directing them to the basement.

"…Step." Shivers concluded meekly, looking down the stairs. He quickly shut the door and rushed into battle to aid Biff and Slim.

The Spirit Squad flew around Bowser's ghost several times as the old Koopa took many swings with his sword, which was incredibly stupid considering that his opponents were ghosts themselves.

Eventually, the three ghosts left the old Koopa alone. Bowser looked around a couple of times.

"Hey, geezer!" A voice shouted from behind.

"Huh?" Bowser asked, turning around and looking over his shoulder.

Slim was holding onto Shivers' arms as Biff held onto his legs. Biff floated backwards, pulling Shivers and stretching him to long lengths.

"Catch!" Biff shouted as he let go of Shivers, causing the third ghost to shoot past Slim (a makeshift slingshot) and rocket straight into Bowser. This took the old ghost off guard, but it did little to hurt him. Instead, it just made Bowser incredibly angry, and he proved this by grabbing Shivers' arm and throwing him away.

"Fellows, watch out!" Shivers shouted, seeing that he was uncontrollably flying towards Biff and Slim.

"Stop, you fool!" Biff shouted back. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything he could do to stop himself, and he collided with the others.

Bowser smirked when he saw that the collision had reduced the Spirit Squad to a wad of ghost, stuck together and unable to pull away from each other.

"It's time for some shish-kabob!" Bowser laughed as he ran at the three ghosts, sword first.

Biff saw this and his eyes widened. "Scatter, guys!" He said.

It took a bit of effort, but Biff, Slim and Shivers managed to break away from each other just before Bowser could run them through. Bowser was suddenly aware that he was no longer running at the three ghosts, but was instead running towards the wall. Unfortunately for him, Bowser couldn't stop in time and ran his sword straight into the wall, where it became stuck.

As Bowser attempted to pry his sword from the wall, a laughing Slim appeared in front of him.

"Hey, grandpa! Don't look now, but you sticker is stuck!" Slim taunted.

Bowser became extremely annoyed with the ghosts' antics, so he grabbed the handle of his sword and gave it a hard yank, pulling it from the wall. Unfortunately, the sword attacked Slim as it was coming out, launching the lanky ghost away from the old Koopa.

The attack took Slim a bit off guard, but he managed to stabilize himself in midair. He rolled up his sleeves as he flew ahead a little more. "This guy's starting to get on my nerves!" He said.

As soon as Slim said this, Biff and Shivers appeared on either side of him, flying with him.

Biff raised an arm. "Okay. New strategy!" He said. "Flight formation, guys! Spirit Stingers, away!"

The Spirit Squad did an instant about face and flew headfirst at Bowser. The three ghosts started flying around Bowser, the force from their moves making the old Koopa spin around several times, Biff grabbing something from him on one of his passes.

When Bowser finally managed to stop himself, he saw that his three attackers were nowhere to be found. Bowser looked around several times, now looking behind him to make sure that they weren't doing another slingshot move on him. However, there wasn't anything behind him this time.

"Where are you?" Bowser asked, looking around. "Where are you, you freaks?"

Suddenly, the Koopa's hat lifted into the air on it's own. Bowser looked up and watched as three ghosts shot out from inside it.

"Right in here!" Shivers said.

Slim quickly grabbed Bowser's hat with both hands. "Yeah, but keep it under your hat!" The lanky ghost shouted as he pulled the hat over Bowser's eyes, blinding him. Slim had a good laugh at Bowser's expense after this.

Seeing that he was getting nowhere, Bowser decided to retreat. After pulling the hat above his eyes again, Bowser rushed off.

**(Basement)**

Down in the basement, Dingodile, Coco and Tiny were listening to the noises coming from upstairs. Dingodile's back was still a little sore after the tumble down the stairs, as were Coco's knees and Tiny's behind, but the three were otherwise alright.

Dingodile sighed in relief. "Well, the noises have stopped." He noted. "Ah guess it's safe ta go upstairs again."

"Why?" Tiny asked. "This where last clue say to look."

"Huh?" Dingodile asked.

"What're you talking about, Tiny?" Coco asked.

"Remember clue?" Tiny asked. "It say 'What you called when not buyer'. You seller! Get it? Cellar!"

"Oy! That's gotta be right!" Dingodile said.

Coco smirked. "Are you sure you're Tiny?" Coco asked.

Tiny chuckled and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Coco and Dingodile rub off on Tiny." He said.

"Well, we're here." Dingodile shrugged. "We might as well start lookin'."

With that, the three friends split up around the basement, trying to find the next clue. As Coco was searching some crates in the corner of the basement and Dingodile was searching around the stairs, Tiny walked towards a door and curiously opened it.

"Maybe there something in here." Tiny mused as he stepped into the room. Once he did, his eyes lit up in excitement. "Oh, boy! Look at that!"

Tiny rushed into the room, but his outcry grabbed the attention of Dingodile and Coco, whom walked over with hopeful looks in their eyes.

"What did you find in there, Tiny?" Coco asked.

"Another diamond?" Dingodile added.

Dingodile and Coco suddenly became aware that the room Tiny had gone into was a giant meat locker. Ham and beef were hanging from the ceiling all over the room, and the two spotted Tiny sitting against a wall, eating ham on a bone.

"Better than diamond!" Tiny said happily as he continued eating.

"Wow. Look at all the ham!" Coco said in awe, looking around.

Dingodile chuckled. "Yeah, and look at the ham eatin' the ham." He replied.

Tiny didn't seem to catch Dingodile's last remark and instead grabbed another ham. However, just as the huge feline was lifting the ham up to his jaws, it opened up, revealing that it wasn't a ham, but a storage container cleverly disguised as one. A sparkling sapphire and another note fell from the 'ham' surprising Tiny.

Coco's face lit up as she scooped up the gem. "Wow! A sapphire!" She said is awe. "This always WAS my favourite type of jewel!"

Dingodile smirked as he picked up the letter. "And there'll be plenty more when we find the last clue." He replied as he opened up the letter.

"What are we up against now, Dingodile?" Coco asked.

Before Dingodile could have time to reply, he heard a strange rolling sound. Looking up, the hybrid's eyes widened when he saw that he was staring down a cannon. "A CANNON!" He screamed.

Coco and Tiny suddenly saw the cannon and screamed in fright as well.

"Everybody, hit the deck!" Dingodile said.

With that, Dingodile, Coco and Tiny threw themselves to the floor, anticipating the worst.

Slim's head popped out of the cannon. "BANG!" The lanky ghost screamed insanely before laughing. "Oh, man! Did I ever get you guys there!"

Upon hearing Slim, the three friends looked up curiously, but saw that someone had lit the fuse on the back of the cannon, although Slim didn't seem to be aware of it. Dingodile, Coco and Tiny threw themselves to the ground again as Slim continued rambling.

"Man, you should have seen the looks on your faces, guys!" Slim laughed. "Boy, that joke just never gets old!"

Suddenly, the cannon fired. Luckily, there was no ammo in the cannon, but because Slim was in it, the lanky ghost was sent shooting over the heads of the trio, torpedoing into the wall.

As Slim recovered from his joke, Biff suddenly floated onto the scene. "Hey! What's all the racket going on down here?" He asked. "Who's shooting off cannons?"

Coco sighed. "We don't know who's shooting off cannons, but we know who's shooting off his mouth!" She said.

"Yeah. Slim." Tiny nodded.

"Well, come on, you idiot." Biff said. "We need to catch that ghost!" However, as he turned to leave, Biff stopped, turned back around and floated over to Dingodile. "Hey, before I forget, the guys and I managed to swipe this from the ghost as we were fighting him off." With that, Biff handed Dingodile the necklace that Bowser's ghost had stolen from him earlier.

"Oy! Thanks, Biff!" Dingodile said. "Tis necklace has been in the family fer a long time, and Ah'd hate ta be the one ta lose it."

"No problem." Biff nodded before turning to Slim again. "Now come on! We've still got ghosts to catch." With that, Biff grabbed Slim and flew off again.

Dingodile shook his head in hopelessness. "That Slim has a one-track mind." He noted.

"Never mind about him, Dingodile." Coco said. "What does the clue say about where to go next?"

"Clue?…Oh, right!" Dingodile said as he read the clue. "What kind of stone do you wear as a hat?" He read.

"Stone hat?" Tiny laughed. "That ridiculous!"

"Heh. Yer right, Tiny! It IS ridiculous!" Dingodile added. "Wouldn't Ah look cute with a big stone on mah head?"

Coco's eyes widened in realization. "Wait, guys! That's it!" She said. "A headstone!"

"A headstone?" Dingodile and Tiny asked at the same time.

"Right! Like they put on graves!" Coco nodded.

"G-G-Graves?" Dingodile and Tiny asked, starting to shiver.

"Yeah! Our next clue is on a headstone out in the cemetery!" Coco concluded.

"C-C-C-Cemetery?" Dingodile and Tiny asked, the latter slinking off.

"Right! Come on! We need to go outside!" Coco nodded.

"Oy. What a day this is turnin' out ta be. Well, we might as well get going, Tiny." Dingodile said before realizing that Tiny was no longer with him. "Tiny? Hey, Tiny! Where are ya?"

Tiny was holding onto an empty rope that a ham usually hung from, doing his best to look unsuspicious. "Nobody here but us ham." He replied casually.

"Ham, eh?" Dingodile chuckled, walking over. "Ya look more like a chicken ta me!"

_To be continued…_


	11. The Chase

**Chapter Eleven: The Chase**

**(Outside)**

Dingodile had to literally drag Tiny out of the basement, but finally got the huge tiger to agree to come out to the graveyard. The front door to the mansion opened as Dingodile poked his head out to see if the coast was clear. The Australian looked around several times before feeling safe. He gave a sigh of relief and looked into the mansion.

"The coast is clear, mates." Dingodile announced quietly. "The gunshots have quieted down and Ah don't see Mr. Psycho around."

With that, Dingodile tiptoed down the front steps, Tiny and Coco following behind him. However, as the trio passed by a bush at the bottom of the steps, Xigbar stepped into view, tiptoeing after the three friends and carefully aiming his gun at Dingodile's head.

"Ah guess we gave ol' Xigbar the slip, guys." Dingodile said.

Tiny chuckled. "What a drip!"

"Ya sure said it, Tiny." Dingodile agreed. "That guy's the biggest drip Ah've ever met!"

Xigbar's good eye narrowed. "Hey! Who are you guys calling a drip?" He asked, giving away his cover.

"You." Dingodile and Tiny replied before realizing what they had just said. The two best friends turned around and found themselves staring down Xigbar's gun. "YOU?" With that, Dingodile and Tiny ran off in terror.

"Now I'm gonna blast the both of ya!" Xigbar shouted, waving his fist in the air before giving chase.

"Get back here, you homicidal maniac!" Coco shouted at Xigbar as she ran off to stop him.

Xigbar chased after Dingodile and Tiny, shooting at them whenever he got the chance. Because she was so much smaller than the others, Coco had trouble keeping up with everyone. At first, Coco was wondering if she would ever manage to catch the others, but wasn't expecting Dingodile and Tiny to turn around while they were running and run at her again. Xigbar apparently wasn't expecting this either, as he didn't get the chance to shoot at the oncoming targets until they had already passed him.

Seeing Coco, Dingodile promptly grabbed her arm and pulled the surprised girl along with them to keep her from getting trampled. Xigbar quickly turned and started chasing the friends again. Eventually, the black-haired gunman stopped running.

"Great. I gotta reload my gun." Xigbar sighed as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a sack of gunpowder. "Just you wait until I reload this, Koopa! I'm gonna get you after this!"

After loading his gun again, Xigbar shoved the sack of gunpowder back into his pocket, unknowingly making a hole in it, starting to spill gunpowder on the ground.

"Okay, Koopa." Xigbar chuckled. "I'm back in business!" Xigbar quickly aimed his gun again and attempted to fire another round of ammo into the forest, where the friends had gone. However, nothing but a click was heard. "Huh? Now what the heck's wrong with this stupid rifle?"

Xigbar quickly pulled out a match and lit it to see what the problem was. He quickly saw what was wrong. "Whoops! Heh. I've got the safety catch on." With that, Xigbar threw the still-lit match over his shoulder, unknowingly making it land in the growing pile of gunpowder, which quickly lit up.

"Okay, NOW I'm ready." Xigbar nodded. "Here I come, Koopa! Ready or not!"

With that, Xigbar ran off, leaving a continuous trail of gunpowder behind him, which was quickly igniting. As Xigbar ran past a tree, Dingodile, Tiny and Coco poked their heads around from behind it.

"I think we managed to shake him." Coco noted.

Unfortunately, Xigbar heard this and did an instant about-face. "That's what you think!" He said as he took aim. Unfortunately for him, he caught a glimpse of the spark floating down the trail of gunpowder. "Huh?" He asked allowed.

Instead of running (which he should have done), Xigbar simply stood dumbfounded as the spark approached him. When the flames finally closed in, an explosion rocked the area, leaving a blackened Xigbar with burnt clothes standing in place.

Naturally, the three friends found this funny, as they started laughing at Xigbar. However, Xigbar didn't take too well to getting laughed at, as he opened fire again. This caused Dingodile, Tiny and Coco run off in fear.

Sheriff Sam chose that time to show up. As the short sheriff stopped his car, the three friends ran by with Xigbar in hot pursuit. Sam jumped out of his car angrily.

"What did I tell you about shooting people, you smackin', rackin', frackin' maniac?" Sam shouted as he started to give chase. "Don't make me go through with my ticket threat, Xigbar!"

Seeing that the gun-wielding maniac wasn't listening, Sam stopped running, coming up with an idea to get Xigbar to stop. "I'm firing a warning shot, Xigbar!" Sam threatened. "This is going to get you to stop!"

Sam pointed his pistol into the air and fired. However, he was unknowingly standing underneath a tree, and he shot off one of the branches. The branch fell directly on top of Sam's head, knocking him down. Dingodile, Tiny and Coco ran past the sheriff with Xigbar still chasing them down. A couple of Xigbar's missed shots struck the trunk of the tree, making it break. The tree tipped over and started falling down.

Sam jumped to his feet and stamped his foot. "That does it, Xigbar! You've had your warning! When I count to three, I'm a-shooting!" He threatened. "One! Two! Thr-" That was all Sam could get out before the tree collapsed directly on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Sam's gun fired harmlessly into the air again.

Xigbar arrived at the hollow stump of a separate tree and smirked. "Oh, you can't fool ol' Xigbar!" He aimed his gun into the trunk and prepared to fire. "I know you're in there."

"Hey, Xigbar!"

"Huh?" Xigbar asked as he looked back and saw Coco standing by the mouth of a cave.

"Not in there." Coco said. "They're hiding in here."

"Oh. Thanks." Xigbar said as he arrived at the mouth of the cave and fired one shot in before realizing what he was doing. "Hey! Wait a minute! You weren't pulling my leg, were ya?"

"Hmm…Could be." Coco replied.

Suddenly, a loud roar was heard as a huge, figure stepped out into the open. The figure was that of a huge brown and gray rabbit with red eyes, standing at twice Xigbar's height. The rabbit let out another roar, causing Xigbar to run away in fright. The monster ran off after him. After they were both gone, Coco ran over to the trunk Xigbar was aiming into earlier.

"He's gone, guys!" Coco announced. "You can come out, now."

A very relieved Dingodile and Tiny rose from within the trunk. "Oy. That sure was some quick thinkin', Coco." Dingodile remarked.

"Yeah! Now we can continue to the cemetery!" Coco replied brightly.

Dingodile and Tiny's eyes snapped open. "C-C-C-CEMETERY?" They shouted together as they passed out, falling into the trunk again.

**(Graveyard)**

After she got the boys to wake up, Coco led them into the gloomy graveyard. For some reason, the cemetery was coated in a thin layer of fog, making it seem that much scarier. Coco was the only one that didn't seem to mind, but Tiny was completely nerve-wrecked.

Tiny was always afraid of graveyards, having watched many old cartoons in the past. He knew that whenever that Great Dane and the mystery-solving gang entered a graveyard, they always seemed to encounter something wanting to get rid of them. The others had always assured him that there was nothing to worry about, it still didn't change the fact that the huge tiger was terrified of the graveyard.

"Oy. Just look at the size of this place." Dingodile noted. "How are we gonna find the clue in a place this big?"

"Well, we know it's here somewhere." Coco replied. "We may as well keep looking, because I'm not sure where exactly it is myself."

Tiny was the only one not paying attention, as he was constantly looking around to see if there were any ghosts coming. At first, Tiny was starting to feel satisfied that there wasn't anything around, but instantly had second thoughts when he thought he saw a flat gravestone on the ground move.

Tiny gave a quick shout and grabbed his friend's shoulder. "Dingodile! Dingodile!" He said.

"What is it, Tiny?" Dingodile asked, stopping. Coco wandered off to continue the search.

"Tiny thinks he see gravestone move!" Tiny replied.

"Really?" Dingodile asked, eyes widening. "Which one?"

"T-That one!" Tiny pointed out. "Over there!"

Dingodile looked at the gravestone for a few seconds, but didn't see if move. "That one? It looks pretty still ta me, Tiny." He noted. "Just don't worry about it, okay?"

With that, Dingodile kept walking. Tiny followed, but looked back as he did. However, the gravestone shook again, this time a little more. Tiny quickly grabbed his friend's shoulder again.

"It move again! It move again!" Tiny replied. "Look!"

"Aw, come on, Tiny. Knock it off." Dingodile scolded. "Gravestones don't move! Now come on! Coco's gone on ahead and we gotta catch up with her."

Tiny sighed, thinking that he was starting to see things, and followed suite. However, after a little longer, Tiny looked back again. His eyes snapped open when he saw a huge gravestone following them, two skeleton feet at the base. Tiny, now knowing that he wasn't seeing things, grabbed Dingodile's shoulder in fear and whimpered.

"Tiny, don't tell me ya saw another headstone move." Dingodile sighed.

"Y-Yeah! Tiny did!" Tiny replied.

The huge gravestone fell forward, revealing the skeleton ghost behind it.

"Oh, Ah asked ya not ta tell me that!" Dingodile replied.

The two friends screamed and ran off to hide somewhere. The skeleton ghost was about to follow when he saw Coco approaching.

"Guys! Where are you? I think I found something!" Coco called out.

The skeleton ghost growled. Coco seemed to be the only one of the three not afraid of him, so he wouldn't be able to scare her. The skeleton ghost turned tail and ran off for the time being.

Coco arrived at the base of a tree and looked up, seeing Dingodile and Tiny clutching the branches high off the ground in fear. "What are you guys doing up there?" Coco asked.

"View better up here, Coco!" Tiny replied.

"Well, come down!" Coco said. "I think I found something!"

_To be continued…_

Sergei (the huge rabbit from Rayman: Raving Rabbids) is playing the bear's role


	12. The Graveyard

**Chapter Twelve: The Graveyard**

**(Graveyard)**

Coco led her two friends through the graveyard, towards where she had managed to find something interesting.

"It's this way." Coco pointed out.

"What did ya find, Coco?" Dingodile asked. "Ya still haven't told us."

"There it is over there." Coco replied, pointing off in one direction.

Dingodile and Tiny looked in the direction Coco was pointing and saw a gravestone with the head and shoulders of an old Koopa wearing a hat.

"Oy! Hey, that's a REAL headstone!" Dingodile said in awe.

"Hey! That Dingodile's uncle Bowser!" Tiny said, recognizing the stone face.

"Yeah! Yer right!" Dingodile nodded.

Suddenly, the stone hat, which was simply sitting on the stone head, shook a couple of times. Tiny saw this and his eyes widened.

"Tiny think he see hat move!" Tiny said, slightly scared.

"The wind did it." Coco insisted. "Hey, you guys remember what the clue said about the stone hat?"

"Yeah?" Dingodile asked.

"Well, I bet the next clue is underneath it!" Coco pointed out. "Come on! Let's check it out!"

"Ah'll do it." Dingodile said as he approached the gravestone. "Let's see if there's a clue under here."

Dingodile cautiously lifted the hat from the stone head of his uncle and his eyes widened. Resting on top of the gravestone's head was another letter and another diamond. He smiled as he looked back. "Oy! Ya were right, Coco! There's another jewel and clue up here! Ah'l just take these and-" Dingodile turned to the head again and was about to take the gem and letter, but suddenly saw that neither were there anymore. He quickly saw his uncle's ghost standing behind his gravestone, holding the gem and letter. This resulted in a scream from the hybrid, whom fell on his back. Tiny saw Bowser's ghost and screamed as well.

As Dingodile and Tiny fled the scene, Bowser's ghost stayed behind and admired the stolen clue. The old Koopa let out a chuckle, and was so wrapped up in looking at the old paper that he didn't see Coco running over to him.

"Gimmie!" Coco shouted as she swiped the diamond and clue from the old ghost. The instant she had them in her arms, Coco ran off after her friends.

Once Coco had stolen the goods from him, Bowser drew his sword. "Come back here, fool!" He shouted.

As Bowser's threats eventually quieted down, Coco continued running through the graveyard, noticing that Dingodile and Tiny were long gone. "Hey, guys! I got the stuff!" Coco called out as she passed by a small building in the middle of the cemetery. "Where are you guys?"

"Right here, Coco!" Dingodile said as he reached out from behind a pillar and grabbed the passing Coco by her shirt, pulling her behind the pillar as well.

Coco sighed in relief. "Thanks, guys." She said. "I managed to take these from your uncle's ghost and I was afraid that he'd catch me."

"Well, good work in takin' the stuff from him, Coco." Dingodile replied.

"Yeah! Tiny think we outsmart ghost now!" Tiny said with a smile.

"Think again, you fools!"

The three friends turned and saw the skull ghost standing a ways away, looking at them menacingly. The three friends screamed and made an attempt to run, but before they could, a huge trapdoor opened underneath them, dropping the trio into a huge hole in the ground. The three fell for about ten feet before landing in the dirt. Standing up, they saw that they were in too deep to climb out themselves, and that the skull ghost was looking down at them from the ledge.

"Now, you furry mortals!" The skull ghost said menacingly. "Hand me that jewel and scroll, or I'll…"

Coco stared up at the ghost and narrowed her eyes. "Or you'll do what, bonehead?" She challenged.

The skull ghost looked up and the eye sockets on his face widened. "Agh! Let me out of here!" He said as he ran away in fear.

"What the heck was that all about?" Coco asked.

"Maybe Coco scare ghost off?" Tiny suggested.

"I highly doubt that, Tiny." Coco said. She then sighed. "Well, we just need to find a way out of here, now."

Dingodile looked back and forth between Coco and the hole in the ground they had fallen in. Suddenly coming up with an idea, Dingodile reached over and picked Coco off her feet, surprising the female bandicoot.

"Huh? Dingodile, what're you doing?" Coco asked.

"Ah can't climb out, but Ah CAN get you ta grab the ledge and let you out." Dingodile said. "Coco, ya go and find some help. Tiny and Ah will stay here and wait."

Coco suddenly realized what Dingodile meant and quickly grabbed the ledge once she got close to it. Coco easily climbed out of the hole and looked down. "Thank you so much, Dingodile!" She said. "Don't worry! I'll go find help and be back here in a flash! Stay right here!" With that, Coco turned and ran off, hoping that she could find someone that could help her.

"Tiny no think he have choice." Tiny mused.

"Well, Coco's out. That's the main thing." Dingodile said before scratching his head. "But there's just one thing Ah don't get."

"What, Dingodile?" Tiny asked.

"The ghost had us trapped." Dingodile replied. "He had us where he wanted and he just ran off. Ah wonder why."

"Search Tiny." Tiny shrugged.

"Well, Ah guess Ah can pass the time by tryin' ta read this clue." Dingodile said as he unfolded the letter and attempted to read it, only to come up short. "Man. It's just so dark down here. Ah can't make out anything."

Meanwhile, the reason the skull ghost ran off lumbered over to the hole and glanced down. Donkey Kong's eyes lit up when he saw whom was down in the hole.

"Oh! Kitty!" Donkey Kong said as he reached down the hole.

Tiny suddenly felt a light tap on his shoulder. Seeing that Dingodile was busy reading the clue, Tiny knew that it couldn't have been him. The huge tiger looked around a couple of times before eventually looking up. Seeing Donkey Kong waving down at him, Tiny paled in fright again before screaming and jumped up, latching onto Dingodile.

"Gah! Tiny, what's yer problem?" Dingodile asked.

Tiny didn't even need to give an answer. Two huge hands grabbed hold of the duo and lifted them off their feet, pulling them out of the hole.

Dingodile and Tiny found themselves staring into Donkey Kong's eyes and screamed in fright. Managing to break free of the huge ape's grip, the two friends stampeded off in terror.

"Wait!" Donkey Kong called out. His calls fell upon deaf ears.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Sam was sitting in his police car a ways away from the cemetery, sound asleep. The driver's door was also wide open.

"Calling Sheriff Sam." The voice on the radio said. Unfortunately, it wasn't waking the sheriff up. "Sheriff Sam, where the blazes are you?"

Suddenly, Coco rushed onto the scene. She spotted the squad car and knew that the sheriff could help her, so she ran over to the sleeping figure and grabbed his arm. This managed to wake him up.

"Huh? What in tarnation?" Sam said in surprise. Coco tried to pull him along, but she simply just found herself running in place, unable to get the sheriff out of his car.

"Tiny-and-Dingodile-are-trapped-in-a-hole-in-the-cemetery-and-you-gotta-come-and-get-them-out-before-the-ghost-gets-them!" Coco said rapidly as she continued to attempt to get the sheriff out of the car. "Hurry up! Will ya hurry up? They're trapped like rats!"

Suddenly, two extremely frightened (and easily identifiable) figures ran past the car. "RUN FER YER LIVES!" Dingodile screamed. "IT'S KING KONG!"

"Nevermind." Coco said as she released Sam's arm and ran off after her friends.

Sam watched the scene with a confused expression. "Nuts! They're all nuts!" He said.

"For the last time, Sam! Where are you?" The voice on the radio said.

Sam sighed and picked up the radio. "Who wants to know?" He asked.

"Your boss, that's who!" The voice shouted back.

Sam quickly turned red, realizing that he'd be in serious trouble for this. He quickly softened his tone. "Oh, hello sir! How's everything going?" Sam asked. "How's the missus and the kids?"

"I don't want to hear it, Sam." The voice said. "Just get your hide down to the station right away."

Dingodile, Tiny and Coco were hiding in a bush and watched as the sheriff drove away.

"Well, now that we're outta that creepy place, let's get back to the mansion." Dingodile said.

"Yeah. Tiny no want to go back in there again." Tiny sighed.

Thankfully, Xigbar didn't attempt to interfere (even though he still could be running from the huge, psychotic rabbit) and the friends made it back to the mansion easily. Going inside, the friends went to the living room and sat down.

"Okay. Time ta find out what's gonna happen next." Dingodile said as he turned on a lamp beside the chair he was sitting in.

Suddenly, a drawer opened up by itself on a cabinet and Biff emerged. "What's it say?" He asked.

Slim emerged from inside a vase and laughed. "It doesn't 'say' anything!" He said. "You have to read it!"

"Slim, that joke was horrible." Shivers noted as he emerged from a chest on the floor.

Slim didn't seem to hear Shivers and floated over to Biff. "Hoo, boy! Am I sharp!" He said.

Biff quickly slammed his fist into the top of Slim's head, flattening it and knocking the lanky ghost to the floor. "Now you're flat!" He said as he turned to Dingodile. "Go ahead and read it, pal."

"Oy. Thanks a lot." Dingodile said as he read the clue. "If ya go buggy, ya won't need a horse."

"Buggy? Horse?" Tiny asked, scratching his head.

"Horse and buggy." Coco repeated. "Where would you find a horse and buggy, Dingodile?"

"Uh…In a stable!" Dingodile replied. "And there's a stable out back of the mansion!"

"Let's go check it out, then!" Coco said.

The six figures left the living room, eventually going out of the mansion altogether. However, once they were on the front porch, several of the floorboards lifted up, then dropped back down again by themselves.

Ironically, this simple sight made each of the Spirit Squad scream in fright as they flew back into the mansion, not looking back.

"Some help THEY are." Coco muttered.

"Well, Ah guess we're on our own." Dingodile sighed. "Come on, mates. Let's go."

_To be continued…_


	13. The Stable

**Chapter Thirteen: The Stable**

**(Outside)**

Thankfully, the stable wasn't as far away from the mansion as the graveyard, so it only took a couple of minutes for Dingodile, Tiny and Coco to arrive at their destination.

"I find it unusual how that homicidal maniac hasn't jumped out to attack us yet." Coco mused, looking around suspiciously.

"He's probably still getting chased by that psychotic rabbit." Dingodile replied with a smirk.

Coco chuckled. "It's not that he doesn't deserve that, anyway." She replied. "After all of the shooting at us he's done, he deserves everything he'll end up getting."

"Well, enough about that." Dingodile said. "The next clue should be just inside this old stable."

"Boy. Stable look so old!" Tiny noted.

"Yeah. There haven't been any horses around here, mate." Dingodile replied. "There hasn't really been much of a use, but Uncle Bowser always used ta tell me that the stable was just too close ta just tear down."

Dingodile grabbed hold of the handles on the front doors to the stable, but found that they wouldn't budge. The Australian hybrid pulled on the doors a couple more times before sighing in defeat.

"Oy, Tiny. Can ya come over here and help me open these doors?" Dingodile asked.

"Okay, Dingodile." Tiny nodded as he walked over to the doors and grabbed hold of the handles as well. The two friends pulled with all their might, managing to pry it open. The recoil from the power sent both Dingodile and Tiny to the ground.

Sitting on the ground, Dingodile shook his head a couple of times before looking ahead. His eyes snapped open when he saw a familiar figure inside the stable, clutching his detached head in his arm.

Dingodile screamed in fright. "The headless horse-monkey!" The hyrbid shouted. Tiny saw this and screamed as well.

The headless horse-monkey reared back on the ghostly white horse menacingly and looked like it was ready to run the two friends down.

Coco, however, saw what looked like a switch on the side of the horse. Her eyes widened in realization. "Wait, guys! Look again!" Coco pointed out. "The horse isn't real!"

Dingodile looked a second time and saw that the ghost horse was frozen in a rearing position, unmoving. "Oy! Yer right, Coco! It's one of those mechanical horses!" He noted.

"Mechanical horse?" Tiny asked as he approached the horse and looked at the switch on the side of it. He curiously flipped it and, sure enough, the horse sprang to life. This caused the headless horse-monkey to fly off the back of it, making it land on the ground limply.

"And look at that!" Coco pointed out again. "The rider's even a dummy!"

"Well, Ah guess this is one ghost we don't have ta worry about anymore." Dingodile chuckled.

"Come on, guys. Let's go see if the clue's hanging around somewhere." Coco said. "It must be in the stable somewhere."

"Right." Dingodile nodded. "Ah'll search the loft up there. Ya guys search the ground floor here."

"No problem."

With that, the three friends split up. Dingodile went behind the mechanical horse and grabbed the ladder behind it, climbing up to the loft hanging above a wagon filled with hay. Looking down, Dingodile saw that Coco was searching the empty horse stalls and Tiny was looking around some shelves. Dingodile continued on up to the top of the ladder and found himself staring at a loft filled with hay.

Dingodile sighed as he looked around. "This is a lot of hay. Ah might be here fer an hour just searchin' the loft." He said. "Well, Ah guess Ah'd better get ta work."

With that, Dingodile put his hands into the hay and started feeling around. However, before he got very far, Dingodile felt something grab onto his hands. Dingodile shouted in surprise as he was pulled headfirst into the hay.

"Gah! Help me, guys!" Dingodile shouted. "The monster got me!"

Dingodile heard a familiar laugh as he was released. Dingodile sprang into a sitting position and looked back, seeing Larxene sitting behind him.

"Don't be ridiculous, Dingodile." Larxene said. "I'm not a monster."

"Says you!" Dingodile retaliated.

Unfortunately, that was all Dingodile could get out before Larxene grabbed him and pulled him into the hay again, repeatedly planting kisses all over his face.

Coco heard Dingodile's shouts for help and looked up at the loft. "Don't tell me it's that blonde sister of the maniac!" She said.

Coco would have rushed up the ladder to help Dingodile had the loft not given out underneath Dingodile's struggles to get away from the obsessed girl. Dingodile and Larxene fell directly into the wagon on the ground, the force making it start to roll backwards, going out the back door of the stable and rolling down the hill.

Like usual, Sheriff Sam chose the worst time to show up at. Pulling up in his car, he saw the wagon rolling down the hill towards him.

"Great horny-toads!" Sam shouted as he swerved to the side of the road and allowed the wagon to pass him by. Once the wagon (still containing Dingodile and Larxene) passed by, Sam looked curiously towards the stable.

With nothing to steer with, Dingodile could do nothing as the wagon careened out of control and crashed into a well. This sent both Dingodile and Larxene flying out of the wagon, shouting in fear.

Dingodile fell headfirst into a small, shallow pond. This wouldn't have been much of a problem had the water not been filthy. Dingodile quickly recovered from the fall and stood up. "Yech." He said in disgust as he wiped his fur off. "Ah know my crocodile side woulda loved that, but that was sick."

"Yoo-Hoo!"

Dingodile lifted an eyebrow at the voice. He recognized it as Larxene's, but didn't see her around anywhere. Curiously, the hybrid stepped out of the pond and looked around.

"Up here, cutie-pie!"

_(Author's note: Oy. Larxene calling someone 'cutie-pie'. I've finally stepped off the dock.)_

Dingodile followed the voice and lookedupwards, where he saw Larxene perched on a branch.

"Get me down, and I'll give you another big kiss!" Larxene said.

"Ah, no thanks!" Dingodile replied as he turned tail and fled the scene.

Larxene pouted. "Sheesh. I really wish he'd just stop playing so hard to get."

Back at the stable, Tiny and Coco watched the scene. The former looked worried while the latter shook her head.

"I just wish that girl would leave him alone." Coco mused. "She's starting to get on MY nerves."

"Should Tiny go back to looking for clue?" Tiny asked.

"Dingodile looks okay. I think we can start searching again." Coco nodded.

Tiny went back to searching the stable. He saw some shelves he hadn't searched yet, but they were too high off the ground to see. The huge tiger looked at the mechanical horse and, thinking he could see better, climbed on top of it to get a better look.

Unfortunately, while Tiny was standing on the mechanical horse's back, the huge feline accidentally stepped on the switch on the side of the horse. This, of course, made it start again. Once the horse started moving, Tiny got down and grabbed the horse's neck in fright as it sprang to life, galloping out the back door to the stable.

Sam increased on his already-bad luck in choosing to walk up the hill leading to the stable at the time. The vertically-challenged sheriff saw Tiny galloping towards him on the back of a mechanical horse. Sam screamed, turned and ran away, although Tiny was still chasing after him.

"Turn it off!" Sam shouted as he ran past Dingodile. Tiny galloped past the hybrid as well as Coco ran over to him.

"Do Ah even wanna know?" Dingodile asked.

"Uh…Probably not." Coco replied.

Sam continued fleeing from Tiny, looking back. "Dagnabbit! Push the button, ya varmint! Push the button!" He shouted. "PUSH THE-" That was all Sam could get out before the mechanical horse head-butted him from behind, launching the sheriff towards the lake. "-BUUUUUUUUUU-" Again, that was all Sam could get out before falling headfirst into the cold water of the lake.

Ironically, Tiny managed to flip the switch right after striking the sheriff. The mechanical horse screeched to a halt and Tiny jumped off. Right after he did, Dingodile and Coco arrived at his side.

Sam poked his head out of the lake and spat out some water. "Ya varmint! Why didn't ya push the smackin' wrackin' frackin' button when I told ya to, ya mangy galloot?"

Dingodile raised an eyebrow. "That's odd." He mused quietly.

"What?" Coco asked. "The sheriff falling in the lake?"

"No. The sheriff knowing how ta turn off the mechanical horse." Dingodile replied.

"Huh?" Coco and Tiny asked.

**(Later)**

It took a couple of minutes, but Sam was able to get out of the lake and managed to make it over to his car. When he arrived, the radio was blaring again.

"Calling Sheriff Sam." The voice said. "Darn it, Sam! Why aren't ya out catching that ape?"

Sam plopped down behind the wheel and sniffed a couple of times before grabbing the radio. "Because I'm too busy catching a cold." He said, his voice slightly changed from the cold water. To prove this, he let out a loud sneeze.

As Sam drove off again, Dingodile, Tiny and Coco were walking over to where the wagon had crashed, discussing Dingodile's latest thought.

"Maybe it just coincidence?" Tiny asked.

"Ah dunno, Tiny." Dingodile replied. "The sheriff knowing how ta turn off the horse just seems a little fishy ta me."

"So what are you saying, Dingodile?" Coco asked. "Are you saying that the sheriff is behind all this? I can't believe that. I mean, he's already got his hands pretty full around here trying to catch-"

Suddenly, Donkey Kong rose up from a bush to look at the friends. Coco had already passed by, but Dingodile and Tiny weren't as fortunate.

"DONKEY KONG!" Dingodile and Tiny screamed as they ran off to hide.

"Right!" Coco replied as she continued walking. "That big, overgrown, jumbo jerk!"

Donkey Kong paused. "…Jerk?" He asked, not really liking what he had heard. Forgetting about Dingodile and Tiny, the huge ape crept off, following Coco.

The bandicoot, however, failed to notice this and continued walking as if Dingodile and Tiny were still right behind her. "What a dopey ding-a-ling." She chuckled.

Dingodile and Tiny were hiding in another bush and saw the huge ape following Coco. "We gotta get Coco away from that ape, Tiny." Dingodile whispered.

Tiny nodded. "We go around. Maybe we catch her that way."

Coco continued walking before her smile vanished. "You know? I sure feel sorry for the guy." She admitted as she stopped walking.

Donkey Kong raised an eyebrow and stopped as well. "Huh?" He asked.

Coco thought this was either of her friends answering her, so she continued without even turning around. "Sure! I mean, the big guy's all alone, he's away from home, in the middle of the night." She said. "He's probably even scared of the dark!"

Donkey Kong looked back, slightly scared. "Uh-huh." He admitted, almost in a whimper.

"And with the sheriff chasing him around and all the spooky stuff that's been happening all night, he's probably a bundle of nerves!" Coco continued.

"Yeah." Donkey Kong nodded.

"Sure! The poor stiff!" Coco said as she continued walking. "Boy, I'd hate to think of what it'd sound like if the big fella ran into the skull ghost."

Suddenly, the skull ghost appeared from behind a nearby tree and tried to grab Coco, but missed. Donkey Kong saw the skeleton and let out a scream of fright. The skull ghost looked at the ape and screamed as well. Both figures fled, running in opposite directions.

"Hey, Tiny! That's a great imitation!" Coco chuckled as she finally turned around, only to see that her friends were both gone. "Uh…Tiny? Dingodile?"

"Right here, Coco!"

Coco turned and saw Dingodile and Tiny coming from the opposite direction. Her eyes widened. "Huh? Hey, how'd you guys do that?" She asked.

"Uh…Never mind, Coco." Dingodile said as he took her hand and continued walking towards the wagon.

"Well anyway," Coco said. "What's this theory you have about the sheriff, Dingodile?"

_To be continued…_


	14. The Tunnel

**Chapter Fourteen: The Tunnel**

**(Outside)**

Dingodile led his friends back to the well where the wagon had crashed. He had a theory about what was going on, but wasn't sure if the others would believe him or not. Even still, he decided to say what was on his mind.

"All Ah'm sayin' is that the sheriff coulda been dressed up as that headless horse-monkey that chased mah jeep when we first got here." Dingodile pointed out.

"But why would he wanna do that?" Coco countered.

"Ah dunno! Maybe ta do what everyone else is tryin' ta do!" Dingodile said. "Drive us buggy!"

Tiny glanced over to the crashed wagon and his eyes widened in realization. "Buggy…Last clue say something about going buggy…" Tiny mused. "Tiny bet it mean THIS buggy!"

Without giving either of his friends time to reply, Tiny dove headfirst into the hay in the wagon and started searching around for something. He only searched for a matter of seconds before finding something.

"Tiny find another jewel!" Tiny called out from in the wagon. "And next clue must be here somewhere!…Tiny knew it!" Tiny jumped out of the wagon, holding a ruby and letter in his hands. "Here they are!"

"Wow! A ruby!" Coco said in awe.

"And the next clue! Great job, Tiny!" Dingodile said as he took the letter. "How do ya feel when yer not sick?"

Coco laughed. "Are you kidding? That's dead easy! You feel well!" Coco jumped onto the stone ring on the well and pointed down it. "This well!"

"Oy! Ya gotta be right, Coco!" Dingodile realized.

Coco quickly jumped into the bucket hanging above the well. "You guys lower me down." She instructed. "I'll see if I can find something down there."

Dingodile and Tiny grabbed the rope the bucket was tied to and started lowering Coco down. After about thirty seconds, neither of them heard a sound coming from Coco.

"Ya alright down there, Coco?" Dingodile asked.

"Alright?" Coco asked. "It's as dry as a bone down here! I've got nothing to worry about!"

"That good then." Tiny nodded. "Coco no need to worry about drowning."

"Somehow, Ah think this is goin' too smoothly." Dingodile mused as he looked around. "Why do Ah have the feeling that something's gonna happen?"

Suddenly, gunshots started ringing out from somewhere behind the two, one of the shots striking the top of the well. Dingodile looked back and saw Xigbar rushing over.

"Crap! Ah knew Ah shouldn't 'ave said that!" Dingodile said.

The two friends screamed and, without thinking, grabbed the rope over the well and slid down it to join Coco down the well. A loud thud was heard, followed directly by three groans of pain.

Xigbar laughed as he arrived at the well. "I got ya cornered this time, Koopa!" He shouted down the well as he set his gun aside. "You've got nowhere to run this time! And this time, nothing's going to save you! Not even Larxene, that love-struck sister of mine!"

Unknown to Xigbar, Larxene walked up behind him. She smirked mischievously as she grabbed Xigbar's gun and used her strength to bend it in a knot. Her job done, Larxene stepped back as Xigbar grabbed his gun.

Xigbar aimed his gun down into the well, seemingly unaware that the handle was twisted in a knot. Xigbar pulled the trigger of his gun and, as expected, the barrel of his gun exploded in his face. After the smoke cleared, Xigbar staggered off in a daze. Larxene approached the side of the well and looked down.

"Don't worry, Dingodile! I'll save you!" Larxene called down.

On the dry floor of the well, the three friends looked up and saw Larxene looking down.

"Ah, no." Dingodile sighed as he leaned against the side of the well and held his head.

Amazingly, once Dingodile leaned up against the side of the well, a secret door opened up behind him, taking him by surprise. Dingodile fell onto his back, finding himself in a secret room. Coco and Tiny watched in awe.

"Hey! Look at this!" Coco said. "A secret room!"

"That why well dry!" Tiny nodded. "Water would go into secret room if it full!"

"And look! There's a pearl necklace hanging on that nail over there!" Coco pointed out.

Dingodile got up and looked. "Well, at least it's out in the open." He noted as he took the necklace and clue beside it. "Ah think we should find a way outta here before we read this."

"There's another door over there." Coco said. "We can't go up the other way, so we may as well see where that door leads."

Dingodile went over to the door and opened it. He looked out it and saw that the door led down a long, underground tunnel. "Well, let's go see where this tunnel leads." He said.

With that, the three friends started walking down the tunnel. As they walked, Tiny was constantly looking around. He, naturally, was paranoid that something was going to happen.

It took Tiny a while, but he was slightly satisfied that they were alone in the tunnel. With a sigh of relief, Tiny looked back to see how far they had walked. His eyes sprang open when he saw Colonel Bowser's ghost attempting to sneak up from behind. Tiny screamed as he bolted past his two friends.

"Tiny, what's yer problem this time?" Dingodile asked.

"Dingodile's uncle!" Tiny screamed.

Dingodile and Coco looked back and indeed saw the ghost of Bowser behind them. The two screamed and ran off after Tiny.

"Wait fer us, Tiny!" Dingodile shouted.

Bowser growled as he went over to a lever. "I've just about had it! I'm springing the booby trap!" He shouted as he pulled the lever down.

Dingodile, Tiny and Coco continued running as they felt the ground rumbling. Looking up as they ran, the three saw some boulders falling towards them.

"What do we do?" Coco asked.

"Continue on!" Dingodile replied. "If we don't make it past this, we gotta deal with mah uncle's ghost!"

The three friends sped up, managing to beat the rocks. The instant they were in the clear, the massive amount of boulders formed a huge rockslide, blocking the three friends from Bowser's ghost.

"What's wrong with him, Dingodile?" Coco asked. "From what you said about him on the way here, your uncle sounded like a good guy!"

"Yeah! Him do nothing but scare us!" Tiny nodded.

Dingodile sighed. "Ah dunno, but Ah can't help but think that ghost isn't really him." He replied.

"An imposter?" Coco asked.

"Ah'm his nephew!" Dingodile insisted. "He wouldn't just attack me! And he's the one who left the clues fer us in the first place!"

"Dingodile have good point." Tiny pointed out.

"Yeah. Now that you mention it, he WAS the one to plant all of these clues, and the first letter WAS addressed to you." Coco agreed.

"So we'll have ta assume that this is an imposter tryin' ta ruin Uncle Bowser's reputation." Dingodile nodded.

"Well, the tunnel's blocked, so we may as well see where this'll end up." Coco said.

Thankfully, Bowser's ghost wasn't able to get over the rockslide, so the rest of the trip to the other side of the tunnel was peaceful. Eventually, the three ended up at the other side of the long tunnel, where they were quick to spot another door.

"Alright! Another door!" Dingodile said as he grabbed the doorknob. "Ya guys think this'll get us outta here?"

"No doubt whatsoever." Coco nodded. "Let's go."

Dingodile nodded and opened the door, taking the three friends into another room. They were quick to recognize it.

"Hey! We back in basement!" Tiny pointed out.

Dingodile nodded. "Oy! Yeah! Ah bet that this is how the ghosts have been getting' in and out of the house without us noticing!" Clutching the next clue, Dingodile pointed up the stairs. "Come on. Let's go upstairs so we can read this next letter."

The three friends went up the stairs and opened up the door at the top. However, once they did, their eyes widened in shock, as they saw that the entire living room was flooded with ghosts, although none of them looked very menacing. However, they were still ghosts, and that freaked the three out.

"Oh, no!" Dingodile shouted. "Now we got the whole house full of ghosts!"

"Hey, guys!" Biff greeted as he floated over with a bowl of chips. "Great party, eh?"

"Party?" Coco asked.

"Yeah! Things were getting a little dull around here, so we invited the whole family over!" Biff nodded as he pointed around the room as some of the different ghosts hanging around. "That's my cousin Lydia dancing with her husband Neville. There's Shivers' distant cousin Vincent Van Gore, Slim's niece Sue Pea, and that's the family dog, Spooky."

"Who weird ghost over there?" Tiny asked, pointing at a bald ghost in a jacket, doing a strange dance alone.

"Oh, him? That's Uncle Grimmley." Biff scratched his head. He watched as Shivers floated by and stopped him. "Hey, Shivers? Who's Grimmley related to, again?"

Shivers paused in thought. "You know? I'm not really sure…"

"This is just too much!" Dingodile shouted as he stamped over to a record player, which was pumping out music. Slim was floating near it.

"Hey, come on, pal! Get in the spirit!" Slim laughed. "Get it? Ghost! Spirit! Hoo, boy! Am I a riot, or am I a riot?"

Dingodile quickly rippe dthe record from the player and smashed it to the ground. "Well, the riot's over!" He shouted. He then looked around the room. "Everybody, O! U! T!"

This made everyone stop what they were doing. "Huh?" They all asked as one.

"Out! OUT!" Dingodile screamed.

Biff sighed. "Okay, gang. Spoiled-sport here says to beat it, so I guess the party's over." He said.

One by one, everyone vanished from sight, leaving the three friends alone with the Spirit Squad. Dingodile quickly turned to them. "And that goes fer you nerds too! Hit the road!" He said.

"Huh? But we haven't caught your ghosts yet!" Shivers insisted.

"That's just the trouble!" Coco said.

"Yeah! All Spirit Squad do is mess around!" Tiny added.

"So why don't ya just go back to where ya came from?" Dingodile completed.

"But we can't do that…" Biff replied.

"Oh? Why not?" Dingodile asked.

Shivers quickly pulled out a violin and started playing sad music on it.

"Well, it's like this guys…" Slim sighed. "We're homeless ghosts."

"Homeless?" The three friends asked.

"That's right." Biff nodded. "We were all driven away by a maniacal Boo. The whole bunch of us were left without a place to stay."

"That's why we needed the job." Slim sniffed. "So we could get a place for the whole family to stay. You know? Just a nice, haunted house in a spooky neighborhood."

"But if you don't want us…Well, I guess that's it, then." Biff sighed. "Come on, guys. Let's go see if they can squeeze us in at the Spirit Postal Service…"

With that, the three depressed ghosts floated through the wall, leaving the three friends in tears.

"The poor guys…" Coco sniffed.

"Yeah…Ah'm sorry we fired 'em." Dingodile nodded.

"That's okay!" Biff said as the three ghosts appeared again, none of them looking upset.

"We forgive ya." Slim nodded. "Heh heh."

Dingodile paused in thought. "Well, okay. You guys are back on the job!" He nodded.

"But you gotta catch some ghosts." Coco replied.

"Don't worry! We won't let you guys down now that we have a second chance!" Biff nodded. "Come on, guys! Let's go!"

Dingodile shook his head in hopelessness as the three ghosts floated away. "Oy. It takes real talent ta be as dumb as those guys." He noted.

"Never mind about them, Dingodile." Coco said. "What does the clue say?"

"Clue?…Oh, yeah!" Dingodile said as he opened the letter and read it. "The next clue is in Rabbid Cave in plain sight."

"Rabbid Cave?" Coco asked. "Hey! We were there before! This is gonna be easy!" With that, Coco turned and walked off.

"Yeah. REAL easy, providin' that huge, psychotic rabbit isn't around." Dingodile sighed as he followed Coco.

"Psychotic rabbit?" Tiny asked. He gulped as he followed his friends.

_To be continued…_


	15. The Cave

**Chapter Fifteen: The Cave**

**(Forest)**

Dingodile, Tiny and Coco walked through the forest in an attempt to get to the cave belonging to the huge rabbit they had seen earlier. They had only hoped that said rabbit was still chasing after Xigbar somewhere.

Even still, Dingodile tried to remain his thoughts on other things. "Oy. Ah sure hope this is the last clue, guys." He said. "Ah can't wait ta get back to the house so we can get have something ta eat."

"Yeah. Boy, what I wouldn't give for a great, big omelet smothered in fresh mushrooms right now." Coco nodded. "And a good helping of french fries of the side."

Tiny's mouth started watering at the thought of food, but remained silent.

"Or maybe a nice, big pizza." Dingodile said.

"Yeah! Pizza!" Coco agreed. "With lots of hot, oozy cheese!"

"And fer dessert, a hot fudge sundae with a big glob of whipped cream!" Dingodile said.

"And cherry on top!" Tiny said, imagining the food above him as he walked.

"Yeah! A whole bunch of cherries!" Dingodile said.

Tiny attempted to grab at his mouth-watering thoughts, but they vanished once he clawed at them.

Dingodile sighed. "Well, we can't think about food right now." He said.

"Right. We need to get to that rabbit's cave." Coco nodded.

The three continued on for a few more minutes before they heard a low growling. Dingodile froze in his tracks and looked around, making Coco and Tiny stop as well. "Ya hear that guys?" He whispered.

"Was that rabbit?" Tiny whimpered.

Coco paused as she focused on the growling more. Her eyes widened. "Wait. That's not the rabbit, guys." She pointed out. "It's just Tiny's stomach growling."

"It is?" Tiny asked before listening to the growing again. "Oh…It is." He chuckled.

Dingodile sighed. "We'll worry about food later, Tiny." He said. "Let's get going."

Tiny followed his friends before something caught his eye: A bunch of berries on a bush. The huge feline's eyes lit up. "Oh, boy! Berries!" With that, Tiny took a few berries off the bush and started snacking.

"Oy, Tiny! Hurry up, will ya?" Dingodile called out.

"Okay. Just one more!" Tiny replied as he grabbed a large berry and gave it a pull. However, the huge, snarling face of the gigantic rabbit stuck its head out of the bush. Tiny realized that he was holding onto its nose. The rabbit roared.

"Tiny, just tell yer stomach ta keep quiet." Dingodile sighed as he and Coco continued walking. "We're almost there."

"It not Tiny!" Tiny screamed as he ran past his friends.

"Huh?" Dingodile and Coco asked as they looked back, seeing the huge rabbit running towards them. Dingodile and Coco screamed as they ran off after Tiny.

The huge rabbit eventually lost sight of the friends. Looking around a few times, the monster stalked off in a huff. Meanwhile, up on a rock that the rabbit had been in front of, the three friends stood, Dingodile and Coco glaring daggers at Tiny.

"Yer stomach could become the deaths of us all, Tiny." Dingodile said.

Tiny chuckled nervously.

**(Cave)**

Eventually, the trio arrived at the mouth of the cave. After scanning the area for danger, they approached.

"Well, we're here." Coco said. "Here's Rabbid Cave."

"Coco doesn't think that rabbit here, does she?" Tiny asked worriedly.

"The rabbit walked off in the opposite direction of the cave, Tiny." Coco replied. "I don't think he'd be here yet."

"Then let's go find the cue and get outta here before he comes back." Dingodile suggested.

With that, Dingodile, Tiny and Coco stepped into the cave, looking around to make sure the owner of the cave hadn't returned yet.

"Looks like you were right, Coco." Dingodile said. "Ah don't see that thing around here anywhere."

"Let's just hope we can find the clue quickly, then." Coco replied.

Tiny scanned around before catching his eye on something. He pointed up high. "Tiny thinks he sees something twinkling up there." He pointed out.

Dingodile and Coco looked where Tiny was pointing. Their eyes widened when they saw a ruby necklace hanging around a stone pillar rising from the ground, the clue attached to it.

"How're we going to get up there?" Coco asked.

"We'll have ta work together." Dingodile replied. "Tiny, you give me a boost. Ah'll lift Coco up and she should be able ta grab the clue."

"Sound good." Tiny replied as he walked over to the pillar and crouched low.

Dingodile picked Coco up and stepped onto Tiny's shoulders. Tiny easily held the weight of both friends, so getting back into a standing position was no problem. Dingpodile, in turn, lifted Coco up as high as he could. This put Coco within arm's reach of the jewel and clue, both of which she quickly grabbed. "I've got them!" She said.

Tiny quickly got down again, allowing Dingodile to get off and set Coco on the ground again. "That easy!" He said. "We get clue quick!"

"Now let's get outta here before that thing shows up again." Dingodile said as he pointed towards the mouth of the cave again.

The three friends walked towards the entrance to the cave, but stopped in fear when they saw that the rabbit had returned and was staring at them menacingly. The monster let out a roar and prepared to rush the three. This time, none of the trio had anywhere to run.

However, everyone stopped when they heard an engine rev up. Looking in the direction of the noise, they all saw a very familiar jeep drive into view.

"Hey! Dingodile, that's your jeep!" Coco said.

"It's comin' right for us and they're no one driving!" Dingodile observed. "Get outta the way, guys!"

Dingodile, Tiny and Coco darted out of the way as Dingodile's jeep drove by, towards the rabbit. Seeing it coming, the monster scampered off, back into the forest. The jeep traveled another twenty feet before coming to a complete stop.

"Ah don't get it." Dingodile said as he approached his jeep. "First it vanishes, then it reappears, then it runs by itself and then it just stops."

"Yeah. What give?" Tiny asked.

Coco inspected the jeep and found a device attached to the dash. The box was emitting a red, blinking light and an annoying beep.

"I thought so." Coco said as she ripped off the cords connected to the box. "Someone attached a remote-control gizmo to your jeep, Dingodile."

"Really? Ah guess that explains why it was driving by itself." Dingodile replied.

Tiny scratched his head. "But…Why did jeep just stop?"

"Whoever's controlling this thing must be out of range." Coco explained.

"Who do thing like that?" Tiny asked.

"Who else, Tiny? The ghost." Dingodile replied as he got behind the wheel. "Now let's get back to the mansion and read the next clue."

"Way ahead of you, Dingodile." Coco replied as she jumped into the jeep with Tiny right behind her. Once everyone was in the jeep, Dingodile started it and drove off.

"Oy. It sure is good ta have mah jeep back." Dingodile said with a smile. "But there's one thing Ah don't understand."

"What that, Dingodile?" Tiny asked.

"How'd it get in the cave?" Dingodile replied. "The last we saw of it, it was sinking into the ground."

"It must have fallen into an underground tunnel." Coco suggested. "You know. Like the one under the stable where your uncle chased us?"

Dingodile shrugged. "Well, we got it back. That's the main thing." He said.

"Yeah. And it isn't even dirty!" Coco replied.

"Now travelling around is gonna be a lot easier!" Dingodile added.

"It would have come in handy earlier." Tiny mumbled. "Like when we go to cemetery."

"Well, let's just head back to he house." Coco said. "We'll be able to read the clue there and see what's next."

It took a fraction of the time to walk to get back to the mansion in Dingodile's jeep. Being careful not to park the jeep in the same spot as before, Dingodile pulled up to the front of the mansion and the three got out of it, going into the mansion.

Inside the living room, Dingodile turned the light switch on the wall on, lighting up the room. He then unfolded the letter.

"So what're we doing next, Dingodile?" Coco asked.

"Well, let's see…" Dingodile said. Unfortunately, that was all he could say, because a huge, hairy arm swung down from above and swiped the ruby necklace he was holding. Dingodile shouted in surprise as he looked up.

The three saw the huge form of Donkey Kong hanging upside down from the light fixture on the ceiling, holding the necklace. The three ran off in fright as Donkey Kong dropped to the ground.

"NOW what does he want?" Coco asked, hiding behind a chair.

"Ah dunno." Dingodile replied from behind another chair.

Although Tiny was originally hiding as well, he narrowed his eyes and stood up. "That it." He said. "Tiny have big bone to pick with ape."

Dingodile and Coco watched in surprise as Tiny stalked over to Donkey Kong, not looking afraid anymore.

"Tiny, what're ya doing?" Dingodile asked.

Tiny refused to pay attention to his friend and looked up at the huge ape. "Okay, pal. Give!" He said.

Donkey Kong quickly held the jewel behind his back. "Uh-uh!" He shook his head.

Tiny suddenly came up with an idea. "Come here." He said, making Donkey Kong lean over. "If ape gives Tiny jewel, then…" Tiny whispered the last part into the ape's ear.

It seemed to work, because Donkey Kong's eye slit up. "Yeah!" He said as he offered Tiny the necklace.

Dingodile and Coco looked at each other in confusion.

**(Later)**

Donkey Kong was having the time of his life outside of the mansion. He was perched on top of a ghostly white horse, which was tied to a tree. Tiny and Coco watched him.

"Man, Tiny!" Coco said in awe. "It sure was smart of you to think about that old mechanical horse!"

Tiny blushed. "Aw, Coco doesn't mean that." He said modestly.

Inside the mansion, Dingodile was busy, holding a phone to his ear. He had one mission to do before going off onto the search for the next clue.

"Hello, sheriff?" Dingodile asked. A few seconds later and he lifted an eyebrow. "Ya got a cold?…Ya sound different…Well, anyway, we got yer escaped ape! Come on over and get him!…Where? Where do ya think?"

Unknown to Dingodile, a skeletal hand reached into view and yanked the phone cord out of the wall.

"Koopa Manor, that's where!" Dingodile replied. However, he didn't get an answer. "Hello?…Hmm, Ah guess he hung up…Well, Ah'm sure he got the message." He held up the letter in his hand. "Ah got this message fer sure!"

With that, Dingodile walked out of the room to go meet up with Coco and Tiny.

_To be continued…_

Author's note: Yes, I know that in the movie, it was Scrappy to get the ape to fork over the stolen jewel, but I thought it would be better if it was Tiny to confront the ape rather than Coco.


	16. The Showdown

**Chapter Sixteen: The Showdown**

**(Outside)**

The three friends once again found themselves outside. Dingodile, after reading the clue, came up with a theory on where the clue might be. Climbing into the jeep, Dingodile ended up driving around the lake to a small building on a boat-dock. The three friends got out of the jeep and went over to the old, wooden door.

"You sure that we're at the right spot?" Coco asked.

"Well, lemme look at the clue again." Dingodile said as he fished the previous letter out of his pocket and read it again. "Ta find the last clue, just 'pier' inside. But peer is spelled 'pier'."

"Like by the water!" Coco nodded. "You're right, Dingodile! This boathouse HAS to be the place!"

"It say last clue!" Tiny said. "We getting close!"

"Right! Let's go in and find the clue!" Dingodile said as he opened the door and led his friends into the boathouse.

Inside he boathouse, there wasn't really a lot of places to look. On the main landing were some shelves, crates and storage containers, and there was an old motorboat boat floating on the water ten feet below. The three split up and started looking around for the final clue.

Coco opened up a crate and looked inside. "Nope. There's nothing in here." She mused as she went on to the next crate. "This shouldn't take us too long, guys."

"Yeah. There's not a lot of places ta hide a clue in here." Dingodile replied as he searched through a shelf.

Tiny walked along a line of storage containers, announcing what was inside each one as he passed by. "Lifejackets…Rope…Light bulbs…Oars…Skeleton ghost…" Tiny was about to continue on when he suddenly realized what he had just said. He rushed back over to the last large container he checked and opened it again. Sure enough, the menacing skull ghost rose from within it. Tiny screamed and jumped at Dingodile and Coco, latching onto them and knocking them all over the railing.

Thankfully, everyone got lucky and landed directly into the boat floating on the water. Everyone quickly got untangled from each other and Dingodile and Coco looked at Tiny again.

"What is it this time, Tiny?" Coco asked.

"Tiny see skull ghost!" Tiny insisted. "He up there!"

Dingodile looked up, but didn't see anything. "Tiny there's nothing there!" Dingodile replied. "Oy, ya give me a PAIN sometimes!"

Suddenly, Dingodile felt himself sitting on something. Reaching underneath himself, he pulled out a golden crown and another letter.

"There it is!" Coco observed. "The final clue!"

Dingodile, excited at what they could find, opened up the letter and read it. "Congratulations on finding all of the clues. I knew that the challenge would be no problem for my favourite nephew." He read. "The entire treasure is in the fireplace!"

"In the fireplace, eh?"

"Huh?" The three friends asked as they looked up and saw the skull ghost looking down at them.

"Thank you for solving the mystery for me." The skull ghost as he pulled on a rope. "Fools!"

The skull ghost caused a net to fall directly onto the friends, trapping them. As Dingodile, Tiny and Coco attempted to free themselves from the net, the skull ghost got close to the boat and yanked on the cord attached to the motor, pull-starting it. This caused the boat, containing the friends, to drive out towards the middle of the lake.

After the friends were gone, the skull ghost laughed. "At last. The treasure is mine." He said as he ran off.

Meanwhile, somewhere out on the lake, the boat containing Dingodile, Coco and Tiny rose from under the water and floated two feet above it. Dingodile spat out a small fountain of water.

"What happened?" Coco asked as she looked around. "The net's gone!"

"We floating above water!" Tiny observed. "How?"

Suddenly, three familiar figures materialized, holding up the boat.

"We just thought you guys might need a lift!" Slim laughed. "Get it? Lift up?"

"Pipe DOWN." Biff replied as he pounded Slim in the head for the bad joke.

"The Spirit Squad!" Coco said as she looked over the side of the boat.

"Well, ya might have saved us, but it's too late ta keep the ghost from getting the treasure." Dingodile sighed.

"What on Earth do you mean by 'too late'?" Slim asked with a smirk. "No ghost can outrun us."

"You got that right!" Biff said. "Alright! Spirit Speed!"

Biff, Slim and Shivers leapt into the air and zoomed off with amazing speed, carrying the boat containing the three friends the entire time.

"We still have a chance!" Coco said. "We can stop the ghost from getting your inheritance, Dingodile!"

"Ah just hope we're not too late." Dingodile replied.

**(Mansion)**

Unknowing that the trio had survived their trek into the lake, the skull ghost was standing in front of the fireplace in the mansion's living room, which coincidentally, was the same one Dingodile, Coco and Tiny had slid into when they first arrived at the mansion in the first place.

"Let's see…There must be a lever around here someplace." The skull ghost said as he saw a lever on the side of the fireplace cleverly disguised as a part of the fireplace itself. "Aha! Here it is!"

The skull ghost pulled on the lever, causing three small panels on the front of the fireplace started turning like a slot machine.

The evil ghost laughed. "I've got it!" He said in triumph.

"Not yet, you don't!" Coco shouted from the door. The skull ghost turned around and saw his victims looked at him from the doorway, very much alive.

"H-Hold it right there, g-ghost!" Tiny said.

The skull ghost quickly pulled out a revolver and pointed it at the trio. "Stand back!" he ordered, not really sounding menacing anymore. "Nothing's gonna stop me now!"

Suddenly, the pictures on the front of the fireplace came up as three cherries, meaning that he had won the jackpot. A massive amount of gold and jewels shot forth from the fireplace, burying the skull ghost up to his neck. The revolver landed on the floor and slid over to Dingodile's foot.

The hybrid watched in awe as he picked up the gun. "Take a look at those diamonds, guys!" He said.

"Let's take a look at that ghost." Coco said. "Something tells me this isn't a real ghost we're dealing with."

Dingodile walked over to the buried skull ghost, grabbed his head and pulled it off, revealing it to be a mask. The three quickly recognized the red mustache of the man behind the mask.

"The sheriff!" Dingodile, Coco and Tiny said as one.

"Somebody call me?" A new voice came from the door.

The three looked at the door and saw another short man wearing a sheriff's uniform. Aside from the fact that he had a full head of red hair as opposed to being bald, he looked remarkably like the sheriff that was buried in the treasure.

"…HUH?" Dingodile, Coco and Tiny asked, completely confused.

**(Later)**

"Oh, Ah get it!" Dingodile said. "This guy's yer brother!"

The real sheriff had taken the imposter from the treasure pile and had cuffed him. He looked up at Dingodile and smirked.

"Yep. I'm the real Sheriff Yosemite Sam." He replied. "This here's my black sheep brother Ophiuchus. He likes to hotwire cars and impersonate ghosts. Heck he even impersonates ME." He looked at the imposter and chuckled. "Ain't that right?"

The imposter mumbled under his breath. "Yeah, you goody-goody brother." He said. "Gah! I KNEW there was treasure hidden here somewhere, and I HAD it!"

"Yeah, fer about twenty seconds!" Dingodile laughed.

Meanwhile, Tiny noticed a door that was slightly opened. He curiously went over to it and opened it, revealing a costume that looked like Dingodile's uncle Bowser. He chuckled mischievously.

Coco watched as the real Sheriff Sam hauled his evil brother out the door. "Man. And to think that that guy was dressed up as all the ghosts we came upon." She said.

Dingodile looked back and his eyes widened. "Oh? Ah wouldn't say that!" He said.

Coco looked back and saw Colonel Bowser's ghost biking towards them on the old-fashioned bike from earlier in the night. However, he ran into the pile of treasure, launching himself from the bike and making him land in front of Dingodile and Coco.

Bowser removed his mask, revealing himself to be Tiny. "It just Tiny!" The huge feline said. "Tiny find costume in other room."

Dingodile and Coco chuckled, glad that the night was all over. "Well, Ah guess there really AREN'T any real ghosts around here." Dingodile said.

"Oh, no?" A mysterious, disembodied voice asked from somewhere in the room.

The three looked around and gulped, recognizing the voice as Colonel Bowser's.

_To be continued…_

Author's note: Yes, I'm not done yet. I've just got one more chapter left.

And for those of you whom are confused. Yosemite Sam is playing the real Sheriff that only appeared at the end of the movie, while his descendant from Loonatics: Unleashed is playing the fake sheriff that was the one seen more often.

Oy. This chapter is the shortest yet. I honestly thought I could make this go longer, but I just couldn't.


	17. The Epilogue

**Chapter Seventeen: The Epilogue**

**(Mansion)**

The next day, Dingodile, Coco and Tiny were eating a large meal in the dining room, each of them seated at a different spot of the large table. Each of the friends ended up stuffing themselves, because after everything they had gone through to find the treasure, they figured they earned it.

"I'm surprised that Wily willingly helped make all of this." Coco mused.

"Well, we DID give him several pieces of the treasure in return fer his loyalty to mah uncle." Dingodile replied.

"Yeah. I guess he was happy enough to chip in with all of this." Coco nodded before she sat back. "Man. I don't think I can eat another bite."

"Yeah. Ah'm stuffed, too." Dingodile added, patting his stomach.

"Is Coco going to finish that?" Tiny asked, pointing at Coco's plate.

"No. Go ahead." Coco replied.

Tiny quickly grabbed Coco's unfinished plate of food and down the rest of the food on it. Suddenly, the three heard a gong being hit. Looking in the direction of the noise, they saw Wily wheeling a large, covered dish into the room. A gong was attached to the trolley.

"Dessert is served." Wily said as he wheeled the trolley over to the table.

"More food?" The three friends asked as one.

Wily grabbed hold of the knob on the top of the lid and removed it from the dish. However, instead of seeing another plate of food, everyone saw the Spirit Squad finishing eating what was underneath the cover. Wily stepped back in surprise, but remained silent.

"Oy! What're ya guys doing?" Dingodile asked.

Biff looked up. "Oh. Hey, guys!" He greeted as he floated into the air.

"We're sorry that we ate your cake." Slim said. "It's just that we were so hungry."

"Oh, that's okay, guys. You deserve it." Coco chuckled. "As a matter of fact, you deserve a lot more."

"Really?" The three ghosts asked.

"Sure. Ghosts save us and help us find treasure before bad guy did." Tiny nodded. "Ghosts need something in return."

"And so, we've decided ta let you guys move in here." Dingodile replied. "Ya can't haunt it fer as long as ya want, and ya can bring the rest of yer family as well."

"Wow!" The Spirit Squad said.

"What about you guys?" Shivers asked.

"We're splitting for home." Coco replied.

"Yeah. No offense, but Ah don't think Ah would want a haunted mansion in the middle of a graveyard ta live in." Dingodile chuckled. "That and our neighbor wants ta shoot me."

"Well, thanks, guys!" Biff said. "You don't know how much this means to us!"

"Hey, wait! I've been wondering something." Slim said.

"What is it?" Coco asked.

"What happened to that big ape?"

"Oh, him?" Dingodile asked. 'He was still riding the mechanical horse when the authorities arrived. The poor lug's been taken back to his home."

"Here's another thing. What are you guys gonna do with all the diamonds and stuff you found?" Shivers added.

"Well, we each took a few things to keep as souvenirs and let Wily take some for himself." Coco replied, taking out a ruby brooch and sapphire necklace.

"Rest of treasure going to charity." Tiny added, taking out an emerald bracelet and a large diamond.

"That's great!" Biff said.

"Well, it's been great meeting ya guys." Dingodile said. "But Ah think we need ta get going and head back ta the village."

"What's the rush?" Shivers asked.

"It'll take a while to get back to the village." Coco replied. "If we leave now, it'll be around supper when we finally get back."

Dingodile went over to Wily. "Wily, Ah wanted ta thank you fer allowing us ta stay here, if only overnight." He said.

"You're…Actually thanking me?" Wily asked, surprised. "I've been nothing but rude to you ever since you arrived."

"Already fergotten." Dingodile chuckled.

"Speak for yourself, Dingodile." Coco jumped in. "YOU weren't the one he left bound and gagged in the middle of a room."

"Greed got the better of me." Wily chuckled nervously. "What can I say?"

**(Later)**

Soon, Dingodile, Coco and Tiny had gotten into their jeep parked outside of the mansion (and not in any sinkholes). The Spirit Squad floated outside of the front door and waved goodbye to them. Dingodile, Coco and Tiny returned the gesture before the hybrid started his jeep and drove off, driving down the forest road. Now that he had directions, getting back onto the main road would be easy.

"Those guys are pretty swell fer three ghosts." Dingodile chuckled.

Coco suddenly spotted something up the road. "Uh-oh! Speaking of ghosts!"

Dingodile looked ahead and saw what looked like his uncle's ghost standing in the middle of the road. He chuckled. "Ghost, eh?" He asked as he stopped in front of the ghost. "Tiny, ya did that trick before."

"It no joke!"

Dingodile's eyes widened as he looked back, seeing Tiny sitting in the backseat. He quickly looked ahead and still saw his uncle's ghost standing there. Dingodile screamed as he threw his jeep into gear and drove past the ghost, leaving Bowser in the dust.

Colonel Bowser's ghost chuckled as he walked down the road towards the mansion. Eventually, Bowser arrived at the mansion and went in.

"I'm home!" He called out.

Wily looked into the room. "Oh! Master Bowser! Welcome back!" He said. Bowser looked into the other room and saw Biff calling his relatives. "How'd everything go?"

"Being a ghost isn't as bad as you might think." Bowser said. "The only downside was that the imposter sheriff kept dressing up as me and making me look bad. I mean, I wouldn't rob from my own nephew! I was the one to send those kids on the treasure hunt in the first place!" He looked at Wily. "But enough about that. How'd things go at your end?"

Wily sighed. "It went well, but I have to admit that I'm feeling pretty bad with how I acted around those dear kids." He said. "And if I may say so, I felt extremely guilty about kidnapping that poor girl. Had it been anyone else to tell me to do that, I would have refused."

Bowser chuckled. "That's my loyal butler. Always has a soft spot for kids." He said. "That's what I like about you, my friend. That and you put up with me for all those years."

"My pleasure, sir." Wily nodded. "But there's just one thing that puzzles me."

"Yes?"

"How did you know that sheriff imposter was looking for your fortune?"

"It's a long story, but all I can say is that I'm glad I found out when I did." Bowser replied. "Had I not gotten you to send that note to Dingodile, that imposter might have actually found it all." Looking into the other room again, the old ghost watched as Biff handed the phone to Slim. "So who're our guests?"

"They're moving in." Wily said. "The kids left and those ghosts are going to bring their family here to live."

Bowser smiled. "That's great. I've been dead for only two months and already I've been feeling lonely as the only ghost on the grounds. It'll be good having some more ghosts here."

"I couldn't agree more, sir."

**(Country Road)**

"Man. What a day." Coco sighed as she sat back. "Do I ever have a heck of a story to tell Crash and Crunch."

Dingodile smirked as he drove down the main road that would eventually lead back to the village they had come from. "Those guys are gonna be so jealous of us when they hear what we managed ta do." He said.

"Tiny look forward to it!" Tiny said eagerly.

Coco looked to her left, at Dingodile, and smiled. "Still, you have to admit, it WAS nice of your uncle to leave you the mansion in the first place." She said. "He really must've been a good guy."

"Ya got that right, Coco." Dingodile nodded. "Ah just hope it was okay fer us ta take some of his treasure."

"Dingodile, it was technically YOUR treasure, wasn't it?" Coco asked.

"Yeah. Dingodile got it as inheritance, so Dingodile decide what to do with it." Tiny added.

Dingodile nodded. "Yeah. Ah guess yer right, guys." He sighed with a smile. "Well, Ah think it'll take us a good several hours ta get back ta the village."

"Perfectly fine with me." Coco said as she looked around. "This scenery is definitely nicer to look at than the forest back there."

"And it much more peaceful without guns going off." Tiny laughed.

Dingodile chuckled as he secretly felt his pocket. After a few seconds, he was satisfied that it was still there.

Unknown to Tiny and Coco, Dingodile had taken a sapphire ring from the mound of treasure secretly. As quickly as he had taken it, he had placed it in his pocket without either of his friends knowing he even did it.

After all, if one were to get an engagement ring, it would best be one with the bride's favourite gems on it.

**THE END**

Author's note: Well, I'm glad to get this thing finished, because I've always wanted to do a parody of this movie, but wasn't sure whom to do it about.

Thanks for the reviews!


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